Balangir hand chopping: Two more arrested

The Balangir Sadar police on Sunday arrested two more persons in connection with the hand chopping of youth on July 7 in Raghavpali village.

The arrest was made six days after the bizarre incident in which some youths of Raghavpali village under the Balangir Sadar police station chopped off both hands of one Khirod Mishra.

The arrested persons were identified as Debaraj Pradhan and Anand Bhoi. With this, police have so far arrested five accused. The three others arrested a day after the incident, are Gopinth Bhoi, Ajit Biswal and lingaraj Gidela of Raghavpali village.The youths, who were arrested on Sunday, told the media that they are not involved in the incident as they were not in the village when the incident had taken place.

However, Balangir SDPO Narayan Naik said the police have arrested the duo on the basis of the FIR lodged by the family members of the victim.

While the family members have named 12 persons in their complaint, eyewitnesses, however, have said the number of accused involved in the incident would be around 15-20.

Replying to a question on the involvement of a police constable Dilip Pradhan in the incident, the SDPO said Pradhan was on duty at the district headquarters on the previous night and the next day when the incident had taken place in the village.Notably, the victim was on his way to take bath in a village pond in the morning on July 7 when some village youths hiding in the area, suddenly launched a murderous attack on him and chopped off his two hands with a sharp weapon.

The victim is now undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack. However, doctors at the hospital have ruled out the possibility of grafting of his two severed hands as they have been badly damaged.