Jeypore: Ahead of the urban local body elections in Koraput, some miscreants abducted and brutally assaulted a local leader identified as Kartika Nag of Gobindanagar in Jeypore town Saturday.
Later, they abandoned him in a serious condition near Kumuliput. The miscreants also fired shots while abducting Nag. The incident has triggered palpable tension in Jeypore town.
Following the incident, Nag’s supporters led by local MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati staged a demonstration in front of Jeypore Town police station and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits, Sunday.
Bahinipati alleged that the BJD is behind this incident. “During the polls, the goons carry out violence in the area to intimidate the locals. This matter should be taken up seriously by the police,” said Bahinipati.
Angry locals also blocked the NH-26 over the matter. Bahinipati said, “Notorious criminals abducted Nag after firing three rounds. They assaulted him with iron rods. He sustained fractures and serious injuries. We demand that these criminals are arrested immediately.”
On the other hand, Suryanaryan Rath, the BJD candidate for chairperson post in Jeypore, also approached police for immediate arrest of the miscreants. He told mediapersons that such an incident should not be politicised.
Later, addressing a presser here, SP Barun Gunthpalli said that four people were arrested in connection with the incident.
He added that Kartik Nag’s sister Sabita Rajputa has filed an FIR, alleging that Sanay Suna, Prince and Goutam Takari of Umuria area fired at her brother, but it missed the target.
The three had abducted her bother in a Scorpio vehicle, brutally assaulted and dumped him near Kumuliput. On being informed, police later rescued Nag and admitted him to a local hospital.
Over 10 people are involved in this incident, the SP said, adding that the four arrested persons were identified as Chadrasai Sagaria (42) of Lingaraj Nagar, Prashant Khara (29), Ajay Harijan (25) of of Kumuliput and Rakesh Das (30) of Koraput LIC Colony.
Three teams have been formed to arrest the seven others, the SP added.
PNN