Throwing an open challenge to the Police, sand mafia on Sunday attacked an Additional Tehsildar and three Revenue Inspectors (RIs) at the Rushikulya riverbed near Malijagannathpur village under Ganjam police limits.
The Additional Tehsildar of Ganjam Tehsil, Suvendu Jena and three RIs (Bhaskar Sahu, Sitaram Sahu and Sushant Behera) were at the spot to raid following a tip off about illegal sand mining.
Enraged by the raid, sand mafia allegedly launched an attack on the officials and thrashed them with iron rods and sticks.
Following the onslaught, all the four injured officials were admitted to the Chhatrapur hospital for treatment.
As per latest reports, the Additional Tehsildar has been discharged after preliminary treatment but the RIs are still under treatment.
An FIR was lodged by the Tehsil officials after which Ganjam police detained three persons and are currently questioning them.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Dasrathpur Tehsildar had a narrow escape when a sand mafia allegedly tried to mow him down near Pallisahi sand ghat under Kasapa gram panchayat in Jajpur district on March 31.
After receiving a tip-off about illegal sand mining activities going on in the area, the Dasrathpur Tehsildar Biswajit Sethi had reportedly visited the spot along with other officials and tried to stop mining. But, a tractor driver tried to crush him down under his vehicle but Sethi saved himself by jumping into a nearby pit.