Phulbani: Villagers of Sarangada under Baliguda tehsil in Kandhamal district nabbed three non-Odia persons on Thursday for suspected child-lifting. Police personnel have rescued the three and interrogation is on.
Sources said that locals questioned a group of three unidentified non-Odia men wandering ‘suspiciously’ in the locality. Villagers reportedly found their responses unsatisfactory and detained them until police arrived.
It may be recalled that there were rumours on the social media regarding child-lifting rackets active in south Odisha districts, including Ganjam and the coastal belts of Andhra Pradesh, recently. This had triggered panic in the southern districts and non-Odias moving into these areas were suspected of being involved by the locals.
Director General of Police (DGP) RP Sharma had issued a seven-point advisory requesting people not to spread rumours about child-lifting g+angs and assured that no such gang exists in Odisha.
In the recent past, several cases of attack on suspected child-lifters by locals have been reported. On June 1, a youth was critically injured after two miscreants slit his throat for suspected child-lifting at Ponaro village in Umerkote block of Nabarangpur district. The victim was rushed to a local hospital in a critical condition. The victim’s family members lodged a police complaint.
In another case, on May 26, police rescued six non-Odia youths who were severely thrashed by the local. Police said six youths of Tamil Nadu were roaming in the Gate Bazar area under Nua Bazar police limits when they were detained by locals. Their inability to communicate was misconstrued by the locals who thrashed them for suspected child-lifting.
