Kendrapara: Despite various steps taken by the police crime is on the rise in this district. So far 11 encounters have taken place between police and the criminals, 11 arrests have also been made. But even then, criminal activities have not stopped.
In the last few months criminals have gunned down four people in the district. While one has died, three others are battling for their lives, yet to recover from the injuries they suffered.
The last of the terrifying acts happened Wednesday when Gagan Bihari Sahu, 28 was shot dead by bike-borne miscreants. Gagan, who owns a medicine shop, had downed shutters and was proceeding towards Manikunda Square when he was shot from point-blank range.
A similar incident had occurred August 15 when miscreants shot at Rajesh Muduli and Ranjan Bhuyan of Bachhrai village and Angulai village respectively under Patkura police limits. Both are yet to recover from their injuries and trauma. Earlier July 13, two bike-borne miscreants had shot the District Convener of ‘Dharmaraksha Sena’, Vivekananda Maharana alias ‘Babuli’.
Senior citizens like Chittaranjan Das, Santosh Kumar Kar and Banambar Sahu alleged that criminals have now become desperate and even police encounters are not enough to stop them. They pointed out that the shooting incident Wednesday came within 24 hours after Central Range DIG Ashish Kumar Singh’s visit to the district.
The easy availability of firearms has also left the cops and locals baffled. They are sure that these are being smuggled into the district, but they are yet to find out the route.
Kendrapara SDPO Rajiblochan Panda, however, said that six persons have been arrested in the ‘Babuli’ shooting incident. He also stated that investigation is on in the Manikunda case in which Gagan Bihari was killed. The SDPO said that business rivalry and extortion cannot be ruled out and both angles were being looked into. He said that the miscreants would be apprehended soon.
PNN