Bhubaneswar: In an incident of firing Sunday night, a youth sustained grievous injuries while standing in a long queue to fill petrol at a pump after a miscreant opened fire in a fit of rage following altercation near Jharpada overbridge of Laxmi Sagar locality in Bhubaneswar.
The victim youth has been identified as Biswajit Behera from Nayapalli area.
A source said that severe rush and long queues were seen near petrol pumps in the Capital City at night for filling fuel ahead of the two-day call for Bharat Bandh given by trade unions across the country.
Two youths reached at a petrol pump near Jharpada overbridge in a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) at around 11.00pm. A number of vehicle owners and drivers were waiting in long queues, at that time.
However, the youths did not come in queue and rather forced the petrol pump employees to directly fill up the tank of their vehicle.
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The pump staff refused to act as per their instruction and deviate from the usual practice. Later, a heated argument erupted between the youths and them. Occupants of the vehicle then called some of their friends who reached the spot on two motorcycles and threatened the petrol pump staff of dire consequences by brandishing a firearm.
In order to avoid any untoward incident, the staff filled up the SUV tank. Despite doing so, all of a sudden the miscreants tried to show off their might and opened fire at one of the petrol pump staff.
Although, the fired bullet missed its target, it hit the left leg of Biswajit instead leaving him grievously injured. The miscreants soon fled from the spot following the incident, a senior police official informed.
On being informed, local police reached the crime spot and launched a probe. Biswajit was rescued by police and admitted to the Capital Hospital here for immediate treatment. “Efforts are on to identify and nab the accused youths,” the senior police official expressed.
PNN