Rourkela: Business rivalry led to firing Thursday evening at an under-construction coal washery near Garjanbahal under Hemgiri police limits in Sundargarh district, police said Friday. Sources said the washery belongs to two business partners from Raigarh in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The business feud is a long-drawn one. The washery was idle for some time and some locals, who were hired as small-time contractors for different jobs, tried to operate it Wednesday.
Speaking about the incident, Sundargarh SDPO Himansu Bhusan Behera informed that police have detained 18 persons in this case including some locals. “We got the information about firing and rushed to the spot led by the SP. There were some broken vehicles and some injured persons,” informed the SDPO. Only one of the injured was shifted to the DHH in critical condition. “His condition is stated to be stable,” informed the officer. The SDPO further said a long-drawn business feud over partnership claims led to the incident. One of the two partners held a major share. But in due course of time, the minor shareholder took over majority of the share and this was not acceptable to the other shareholder who claimed that the documents were forged. This led to rivalry between the two. “One of the shareholders reached the spot last evening with 20-25 vehicles packed with his followers and started bashing the local vendors present over there. Nearly 10-15 rounds were fired and no bombs were hurled. Seven vehicles have been damaged and six were injured. One seriously injured was shifted to the DHH at Sundargarh,” added the SDPO.
However, some other sources reported that more than 200 rounds were fired and bombs were thrown. A forensic team went there Friday morning for spot investigation, he said. “We came to know that two youths of Sundargarh have been shifted to a Raigarh-based hospital for treatment. A police team from Odisha has reached Chhattisgarh to interrogate the injured persons of Sundargarh. An investigation is underway to get into the depth of the incident and we will take necessary action soon,” the SDPO said.
RAJESH MONHANTY, OP