SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, May 21: A police officer and three other persons got injured when a few cattle smugglers attacked them at the Tata Sijua Area under Jogta police station, around 19 km away from the district headquarters on Friday night.
The police official said that the incident occurred at around 11 pm. The cattle were being smuggled on three pickup vans on Katras-Sijua road. When local people tried to intercept them, smugglers who were escorting the vehicles on bikes attacked them.
Pankaj Verma, the officer in charge of the Jogta police station, arrived at the scene after receiving information about the clashes. The smugglers beat him with bricks after seeing the police, severely injuring Pankaj Verma. However, the smugglers were able to flee the scene as a huge number of police officers arrived.
Police seized three vehicles loaded with 15 buffalo and 10 calves. They also nabbed one driver while two others managed to flee. Jogta Police station officer said three persons were also taken into custody after the incident and they are being interrogated.
The injured officer in-charge Pankaj Verma was treated at a local nursing home. He has received injuries near the ear and on the eye.
Getting information of clashes of police with cattle smugglers, Baghmara SDPO Nisha Murmu, deputy superintendent of police (law and order) Amar Pandey, Inspector Veer Kumar Singh and police personnel of four police stations reached the spot and began a search of smugglers in the area.
Police officer in-charge of Jogta police station Pankaj Verma said that seized cattle were handed over to Katras Gaushala.
This is the first time cattle were being smuggled through rural roads and smugglers attacked local people as well as police in Dhanbad. Generally, cattle are smuggled through the inter-state GT road (National Highway-2) to Bengal from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states.
A police official said since police have intensified patrolling on High Way, smugglers are taking the rural roads for carrying cattle.
