4 held for stabbing youth to death over 'wrong decision' during cricket match

Choudwar police on Monday arrested four accused, a day after a youth was stabbed to death for ‘wrong umpiring’ during a local cricket tournament at Mahisalanda village under Choudwar police limits in Cuttack district.

The deceased has been identified as Lucky Rout, a resident of Mahisalanda village. The cops conducted a raid and arrested the main accused Smruti Ranjan Rout and later arrested three of his associates based on his confession.

The incident occurred during a cricket match between the teams of Berhampur and Sankarpur village at Mahisalanda village. After batting first, Sankarpur team had scored 114 runs. Later, Berhampur team came to bat and one of the batsmen was allegedly declared out. However, the accused threatened the umpire to declare it as ‘no ball’.

Two accused began to beat up the umpire when he refused to give ‘no ball’. Seeing the umpire beaten up, the victim Lucky Rout intervened and tried to bring the situation under control.

The scene turned ugly after the accused attacked Lucky with a bat and later one of them stabbed him with a knife. He was rushed to the local hospital in critical condition and later referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital after his condition worsened.

However, he succumbed to the injuries. Irate locals managed to overpower one of the accused while three others managed to escape. Later, Choudwar police conducted a raid and arrested all three accused.

All the four accused will be produced in court, reports said.