The scribes of Baleswar under the banner of Utkal Journalists’ Association (UJA) submitted a memorandum to the Superintendent of Police B Jugal Kishore urging him to arrest the accused persons who were involved in brutal attack of one of their colleagues recently.
Pratap Patra, a working journalist, Madhupura, Baliapal block, was brutally assaulted on May 30 night allegedly by a group of sand mafias due to previous grudge over his reporting against them.
The incident occurred near Galapolo in the road between Baliapal and Kamarda when he was returning in a bike. Although he was wearing helmet yet with sharp knife attack, he sustained head injuries.
Regarding the issue while an FIR was lodged with the Baliapal police naming seven accused persons, including kingpin Soumyadip Chakraborty , the police arrested three of them.
The prime accused and three others are still at large. UJA president Bramhananda Swain besides demanding arrest of all accused persons in the case also threatened to undertake a dharna in front of Baliapal police station if the demand was not met.