The police then retaliated and three were gunned down. The situation has since improved, especially after the deployment of CRPF in the area.
Despite heavy police deployment, miscreants have succeeded in spreading terror in Kandhamal. The police are scared of entering interior parts of Kandhamal, where tension still prevails.
They don’t want to take the risk since they suspect naxals may have laid landmines along the way. While travelling to Brahmanigaon, this reporter did not find a single police patrol along the entire route.
Police has been deployed only in the centrally located areas which are easily accessible and have communication.
Around 20–30 churches have been torched by the majority community, including an attack on the house of former steel and mines minister Padmanbha Behera; even the house of Rajya Sabha MP Radhakanta Nayak was not spared. A few vehicles were also gutted as people attacked police stations in Tikabali and destroyed three police vans and a jeep.
The miscreants, belonging to the Christian community, set the entire Oriya basti in Brahmanigaon and Gadapur market on fire. The Hindu colony was attacked after the attacked informed the police that communal riots had broken out in a village near Brahmanigaon.
Leaving behind just a few forces, the police team rushed to the spot. Members of the Christian Community then congregated in thousands and launched an attack on the Hindus. They set the entire basti ablaze, and even attacked the Brahmanigaon police station. The superintendent of police of Gajapati, AN Sinha was a victim of the attack and was injured in the process.
The police then retaliated and three were gunned down. The situation has since improved, especially after the deployment of CRPF in the area.
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