Baripada: After the recent attack on a police officer by sand smugglers, a local youth was beaten up by them in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Friday night.
According to sources, some people were lifting sand illegally from the river bank near Bazarpur village under Kaptipada police limits in the district and transporting it through the village. While they were driving the tractors with the sand recklessly through the village, the youth, Manas Kumar Sahu, asked them to drive slow and safe.
Irked with his interference in their business, the people transporting the sand beat him up mercilessly. One of the attackers hit Manas on the head with a stone. But they fled when the villagers came to Manas’s rescue.
Manas was rushed to Kaptipada sub-divisional hospital with serious injuries. Later, he was shifted to District Headquarters Hospital at Baripada as his condition deteriorated.
Later, the villagers filed a complaint at Kaptipada police station. The police swung into action and seized a tractor used for illegal sand transportation. They have launched an investigation, sources said.
It may be noted that police had arrested four women on Friday for the alleged attack on Kaptipada police station IIC Prakash Rath on December 18 by sand mafia. The arrested women are residents of Dahisahi and Gohira. However, the two main accused are yet to be nabbed, police said.
On December 18, following a tip-off by locals about illegal sand mining at Dahisahi, Kaptipada IIC Rath had raided their unauthorised sand depot. But Rath came under severe attack when he directed his personnel to seize the sand dumped in the area.
The group, including the arrested four women, had also damaged the police vehicle. Rath had sustained injuries on his neck and back and was rushed to Kaptipada sub-divisional hospital.
Following the two incidents of brutal attack by sand mafias in quick succession and rampant illegal sand lifting from their locality, residents of Kaptipada sub-division have demanded stringent action against the mafias.
