Phulbani: Three persons sustained burn injuries as a man threw acid on them in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Thursday.
According to sources, Suraj Mohanty and his friend Rakesh Mishra were talking at a traffic junction in Phulbani, the headquarters town of the district, when the accused, Pramod Sahu came there with a bottle and acid and threw its content on them.
As Suraj and Rakesh cried in pain, the former’s father Chandra Mohanty rushed there, Pramod threw the acid on him also. As Pramod was trying to flee, the locals caught hold of him.
They thrashed Pramod and later, handed him over to the police. They also rushed the three seriously injured persons to the district headquarters hospital in the town. The condition of the acid attack victims was stated to be critical.
On being informed, a team from Phulbani Town police station went to the spot and took Pramod into custody.
Phulbani SDPO Suprasanna Mallick, who went to the hospital to enquire the condition of the victims, told the media that they had started investigation into the case.
While the SDPO said the cause of acid attack has not been ascertained, Suraj told the media that Pramod used to sell ganja in the traffic junction area. Suraj and his friends had told him to abstain from peddling the contraband.
“It is suspected that the acid attack was the fallout of past enmity. The accused was involved in a murder case and sent to jail earlier. He was released from jail recently. We are questioning him to know the exact cause,” the SDPO said.
