Post-poll violence in Odisha: Supporters of shedding candidate attacked, six damage

By Express News Service

JAJPUR:  In an incident of post-poll violence, six individuals had been injured, 4 of them grievously, after a conflict broke out between supporters of successful and shedding sarpanch candidates at Banasahi village beneath Mangalpur panchayat in Dasarathapur block right here on Wednesday night time. 

The injured individuals included Pradip Mahapatra, husband of the shedding sarpanch candidate Pankajini Mahapatra. In her FIR, Pankajini accused the supporters of successful sarpanch candidate Sasmita Dhal and her husband Sisir behind the assault. 

“The villagers who supported me in the recently-concluded three-tier panchayat elections were returning home after attending a meeting in my house on Wednesday night. All of a sudden, supporters of Sasmita including Sisir attacked them. When my husband came to their rescue, he too was also assaulted,” she claimed. The injured had been rushed to the native hospital. Later, two of them had been shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after their situation deteriorated.

Following the incident, Pankajini lodged a criticism with police. On Thursday, lots of of supporters of Pankajini additionally gheraoed Mangalpur police station demanding quick arrest of the accused. Basing on the criticism, police registered a case and detained two individuals for questioning. Further investigation is underway.

In a separate incident, some miscreants allegedly hurled stones on the home of a shedding sarpanch candidate at Achutpur village inside Dharmasala police limits. The candidate, Nirmala Biswal, has filed a criticism within the native police station on this connection. Dharmasala police have launched an investigation and nobody has been arrested to this point.