At least three persons were brutally killed and one person was critically injured in a group clash on the outskirts of the city at Safipur under Kandarpur police station, about 15 km from here on Friday.
All the victims belong to the Safipur village, police said, adding that the injured Bijay Naik, undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital here, had been arrested. Police are on the lookout of two other accused, who escaped from the spot.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the group clash was fallout of a heated exchange of words between the groups on Thursday evening over land dispute,” said Cuttack city DCP Sanjiv Arora, who rushed to the spot soon after the incident.
The deceased have been identified as Deepak Ojha, Sandeep Beura and Sanjay Swain. All the three had criminal antecedents and cases were pending against them, said a police source. Their bodies were lying near the house of Deepak Ojha in a pool of blood with multiple sharp injuries.
Arora said one Bijay Naik arrested in this connection and the weapon of offence – a blood-stained sword, has been recovered from the spot. As tempers were running high in the village, police deployment was made in the village which is close to the famous Paramhansa temple.
