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Murder of girl triggers violence

BHUBANESWAR: Demanding ‘instant street justice’ in an alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Balasore district, hundreds of villagers on Saturday attacked a police outpost where the accused was detained after being rescued from a mob.

More than 50 people including several policemen were injured as a pitched battle that ensued at Haladipada police outpost, about 10 km from district headquarter of town of Balasore.

Angry people were demanding the handing over of the accused who was suspected to have committed the heinous crime.

According to police, the girl had gone to watch an open-air theatre with her father to nearby Dumuda village, from where she was allegedly lured by the 45-year-old accused Karunakar Das. Family of the girl made frantic search during the night, but the victim could not be traced.

In the morning, the body of the young girl was found was found in a paddy field.

When a woman disclosed that the girl was last seen with Das, villagers caught hold of him. Suspicion against Das grew stronger as he had been charged in a number of heinous crimes before.

For more than 90 minutes villagers beat him before a police team arrived on the scene to save him from being lynched. The police team took Das to the Haladipada police outpost.

Subsequently, anger started building up among villagers who marched towards the police outpost to take the accused under their custody. "We tried our best to make villagers understand the consequence of beating the accused to death.

But they did not pay heed to us. Instead, they tried to torch the outpost and started pelting stones from every side," Balasore Superintendent of Police Y. K Jethwa said over the phone.

As the mob grew in strength, additional police force was called to disperse it. However, police personnel were first chased by the villagers.

Many sustained injuries when the open space in front of the outpost turned into a battle zone. In an attempt to control the situation, lathicharge was ordered and teargas shells were lobbed on the mob."We have sent three platoons of police force to prevent further deterioration of the situation.

The accused has been forwarded to court after the medical examination," the SP said.

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