Chhend clash: 43 villagers forwarded to court

OST Bureau

Rourkela, Oct 7:

Police on Sunday forwarded 43 persons of Badbudi slum area to the court for their alleged involvement in the clash with the police in the Chhend area on Saturday.

“We have forwarded all the 43 arrested persons to court. Though the situation is under control, we are keeping a strict vigil on the situation with the deployment of six platoons of armed police force,” said Rourkela additional superintendent of police Santosh Mohanty.

It may be noted that a police team had gone to Bagbudi slum area near Chhend early Saturday morning to arrest four persons allegedly involved in the vandalisation of a Durga mandap.

While the team was returning after arresting four persons, hundreds of locals armed with weapons attacked the cops and also took away one of the arrested persons from the police van, following which a clash occurred between the police and the slum dwellers. 14 policemen, including a DSP Ranjit Kumar Bhoi, and five slum dwellers were injured.

Meanwhile, sources said that the slum dwellers have decided to take out a rally on Monday opposing declaration of Corporation status to the Rourkela Municipality.