Athagarh: Panic gripped Indupur village under Athagarh police station limits in Odisha’s Cuttack district after three dacoits set a woman on fire after looting ornaments from her house in a broad daylight today.
Reports said the three unidentified dacoits barged into the house of Milan Kumar Parida after climbing the roof of the house. They entered the bedroom and overpowered Milan’s wife Rosalin and rendered her unconscious by stuffing sedatives into her mouth.
“While the three dacoits were searching for valuables, I regained conscious. At this, the three dacoits tied my hands and legs and gagged my mouth and asked me to hand over the key of the Godrej almirah. When I refused, they severely thrashed me. One of them put a knife on my throat and another put a gun at the head of my eight-month-old son. Finding no other alternative, I handed over the key to them. After looting the valuables, they untied my hands while one of them set fire to my saree,” Rosalin told the media persons who rushed to the village following the incident.
“I was at the backyard of my house when I heard the scream of my wife. After rushing to the house, I notice that the fire in her saree and immediately doused it. My wife, before going unconscious, pointed to the roof-top. Later I came to know that the three dacoits had fled through the roof-top. I immediately ran out of my house and alerted the villagers. But by that time, the dacoits had fled the area,” Milan said.
Talking about the loot, he said the dacoits have looted two gold necklaces of his wife, a gold chain, two Mangalsutras, 16 gold rings, six gold lockets, two gold chains of his son, three pairs of gold bangles and cash worth Rs 2000.
"The the three dacoits had worn masks on their face and gloves in their hands. While one of them had worn a half pant, the other one had a tattoo on his hand," he said.
“Following the incident, I went to the police station and lodged a complaint. I also took my wife to Athagarh sub-divisional hospital where the doctors, discharged her after preliminary treatment,” he informed.
“We have started investigation and hope to nab the three dacoits very soon,” Athgarh IIC Bijaykrushna Mohapatra said.