Bhubaneswar: Two audacious street crimes on the first day of the New Year have once again raised serious question marks over the law and order situation in the Capital city. In the first incident, 10 to 12 unidentified armed miscreants barged into the Kalinga Youth Club in Sailashree Vihar area, under Chandrasekharpur police limits, here Monday midnight and assaulted a youth with sharp weapons.
The victim, identified as Sangram Singh, who does odd jobs, received serious injuries on his right elbow and arms after being sliced several times with swords and daggers. He was later shifted to a hospital by some of his friends. Witnesses said no one resisted the miscreants when Sangram was being attacked as they were heavily armed and came in a large group. They later allegedly ransacked the club premises before leaving, they said. Chandrasekhar police station IIC, Prakash Chandra Majhi said the attack was the fall out of a long-standing dispute between two groups. He said the attackers were at loggerheads with Sangram Singh and his friends for a long time. Matters became worse over the New Year feast at the club which the rival group wanted to organise. The police claimed to have identified one of the suspects, Shalu, who had earlier been arrested in another case.
However, no arrests have been made so far. In the other incident at Damana village, two masked criminals looted a shopkeeper in the wee hours of Tuesday by threatening him with a razor. The victim, Sibananda Barik, who runs an Omfed booth, said the duo showed up when he stepped out of his house to open his shop in the vicinity, at around 4 am. “They suddenly demanded money from me. When I refused, one of them pulled out a razor and put it on my throat,” Barik said adding that the duo then took away Rs 6,000 from his pocket. Before escaping, the miscreants tried to slice Barik’s throat with the blunt razor. Barik received minor scratches on his throat in the attack. An officer from Chandrasekharpur police station said that an investigation into the case has been launched following the registration of an offence. The attackers are yet to be identified, he said.
DEBADURLLAV HARICHANDAN, OP