'Missed call' love goes horribly awry for love-struck boy

Puri: Love, they say, is blind. But what about love that is born out of a missed call, that lifeline that keeps India going? Well, going by the experience of this youth in Puri, it can be an invitation to disaster - with some bodily injury as the price to pay.

Like hundreds of other love affairs in the state, this one too started out of a missed call. Instead of 'boy meets girl and love is born at first sight', it was a case of 'boy talks girl and love is born at first talk'.

The love affair that started between Susanta Baral and a girl from Sakulipada village in Sakhigopal area, born out of a missed call, blossomed over several actual calls before the two love birds decided that whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears through the mobile phone had gone on for far too long and it was now time to meet each other in person and whisper sweet nothings into each other without the help of a mobile phone.

Accordingly, Susanta, along with his two brothers, landed in Sakulipada village on Saturday to meet the girl. But they had not bargained for what lay in store for them in the village.

To the utter dismay of the love-lorn boy, far from becoming an occasion for meeting of body, mind and heart, the 'first sight' turned out to be an absolute nightmare.

Having got wind of the impending visit of the love-struck boy, villagers lay in wait - like a pack of hunters waiting for the prey - and pounced on the trio as soon as they reached Sakulipada.

They overpowered the brothers, tied them to a tree and then thrashed them to their heart's content.

A complaint has been filed in this regard with the Satyabadi police. But strangely, instead of taking any action against those who assaulted them, police have detained the three youths and are interrogating them over the love affair.