Rivals chop both hands of Balangir youth

In a ruthless act of revenge that puts a big question mark on the civility of people, a gang of some 16 youths hacked off both the hands of a villagemate at a village in Balangir district on Tuesday.The gruesome incident took place at Raghavpally under the Balangir Sadar police station and the victim Khirod Mishra (25) was brought to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack in the evening. Doctors have yet to decide whether the severed arms could be joined through reconstruction surgery.     

According to reports, Khirod was attacked while he was going to the village pond for bathing. Armed with swords and bhujalis, the assailants brutally chopped up his arms with repeated blows. So incensed were the assailants that they even beat up Khirod’s mother, who was making a fervent appeal to spare her son.

Quoting eyewitnesses, police said the assailants were from the same village and deserted the village soon after committing the ghastly act. “We have launched a massive manhunt to nab the culprits,” said Balangir SDPO Narayan Naik. Police said the incident was an outcome of a rivalry.

The rivalry between the two groups dates back to past several months. The groups had a face-off over a petty issue of a wedding procession at the village last month in which five people from both the groups, including Khirod and brother Nirod, were arrested. Khirod had been released on bail last week, police said.