Nayagarh: Miscreants went berserk and thrashed weaker section people in a Dalit colony before setting their houses ablaze at Lausena under Jemadeipurpatna panchayat in the district as they had allegedly attended a public meeting convened by BJP, Sunday morning.
The mayhem was allegedly carried out at the behest of Purna Chandra Prusty, the husband of Jemadeipurpatna panchayat sarpanch. The accused is alleged to have carried out violence on the Dalits with the help of students of Sai Academy which is owned by him.
The Sunday morning public meeting, organised by BJP leader Lala Manoj Kuamr Ray at Lathipada under this block, was attended by a few Dalits.
Prusty with the help of the students is alleged to have thrashed the villagers residing in Dalit Street, pulled down their houses and set afire to two of their rooms. While the house of Madhab Mallik was torced, the houses of Madhusudan and Bhramar Mallik have been razed. They have even broken the toilet door of Manoj Kumar Mallik and rendered four persons including Brundaban Mallik critical.
According to a complaint lodged by Pramila, wife of Madhab Mallik, a dozen villagers, engaged in a mobile tower installation work under Sadashiv Nayak, had gone to Panipoila on a picnic to mark New Year celebrations while the sarpanch’s husband Prusty was attending another picnic at the same spot the same day.
Sadashiv had a tussle with a Prusty supporter over past enmity following which the supporters of Prusty beat up Sadashiv’s supporters.
They came back home when Prusty promised to resolve the issue but pulled up Dalit women who had attended the BJP meeting and went on rampage with the help of the his school students. The victims tried to go to the police station to file their FIRs but Prusty asked the vehicles operators on the road not to transport them.
The victims somehow managed to reach the police station at 2 am and handed over their FIRs to a policeman on duty in the absence of police IIC.
District Congress president Ranjit Dash, executive president Hussain Khan and Kamal Charan Sahu visited the spot Monday and criticized the perpetrators of violence unleashed on the innocent villagers.
BJP leader Lala Manoj Ray also met the victims and condemned the attack. Police IIC Manorama Mallik reached the spot in the afternoon and began an investigation into the incident.
When contacted, Purna Chandra Prusty denied his involvement in the violence while the police IIC said the matter is being investigated.
PNN