Army jawan fires from air gun over land dispute, injures three persons in Odisha's Jajpur

Jajpur: At least three persons including a woman were injured after a defence personnel allegedly took out an air gun and shot at them over a land dispute at Bharatpur village under Jenapur police station limits in the district on Wednesday, police said. The injured have been identified as Sujata Pradhan, her two sons—Ranjan Kumar Pradhan and Bibek Pradhan. [caption id=“attachment_4227763” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] All the injured were rushed to the Community Health Centre at Dharmasala and later shifted to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for better treatment. The incident occurred when Maheswar Das, an army jawan who was on a motorcycle was intercepted by his immediate neighbour Khirod Pradhan. When Das asked Pradhan as to why he waylaid the former, Pradhan allegedly abused him. Hearing the ruckus, Khirod’s wife Sujata and sons Bibek and Ranjan came out of their house and beat up Das mercilessly, police said quoting FIR. “There was a long-standing land dispute between Das and Pradhan families and the ill feeling was brewing on it. The incident took an ugly turn on Wednesday. The Pradhan family overpowered and beat him up mercilessly. Das sustained injuries following the group attack,” said Susanta Kumar Das, inspector-in-charge of Jenapur police station. In a fit of anger, the army jawan took out his air gun from his house and started firing at them. The trio sustained minor injuries, the police officer said. On being informed, local police reached the spot and sent both the injured Jawan and the wounded persons to the hospital for treatment. Two separate complaints have been filed in this connection and further investigation is on.