A group of bandits swooped over the house of local Congress member Onkar Nath Singh with stones while ransacking the party office at Post-Office Road locality in Mango on Sunday morning.
While there is no apparent reason for the attack, Singh along with other partymen has given the police an ultimatum of 24 hours to nab and arrest the criminals, threatening to gheraoh the Mango police station in case of failure.
The incident occurred at the thickly-populated Post-Office Road area at about 3 am on Sunday, setting off a strong resentment among a section of the locals who came to know about the attack in the morning.
Stones and bricks lay strewn in front of the Congress activist’s residence and a banner featuring state health minister and Congress Jamshedpur West legislator Banna Gupta was left on the ground.
Mango thana OC Vinay Kumar visited the site along with a police team after getting a complaint regarding the attack on Singh’s house and the adjoining party office.
While probing the case, the police also scanned the CCTV camera footage, one of which helped them identify a culprit. Satyaban Gaur was seen pelting stones at the Congress activist's house.
“We have identified one of the culprits who was identified as Satyaban Gaur, a resident of the same locality. From the CCTV footage it appeared that Gaur, who is about 28 years of age, was drunk. We have registered a case against him and others and will arrest them all soon," said Kumar while talking to The Telegraph Online.
The officer informed that the attackers, including Gaur, had absconded. However the police were still continuing raids at the houses of the accused. Kumar hoped that they would be nabbed soon.
While Gaur, who recently returned from the prison, has a criminal record, Onkar Nath Singh is the president of the Mango Vikash Samity and has affiliation with the Congress party. Singh is also a member of the Peace Committee of Mango.
This was not the first time Gaur had attacked his residence, the activist said while talking to reporters, adding that he had launched similar attacks on three occasions.
"Being a peace committee member, I have to remain vigilant against all anti-social activities in the area. Satyaban remains indulged in anti-social activities. He might have launched the attack in apprehension that I will report his activities to the local police and administration. Otherwise there seems no other reason behind the accused to launch such an attack on me," claimed Singh.
The Congress activist added that he had no land dispute with Gaur, but he still continues to ransack his residence where Singh lives with his family.
Sources in Post-Office road locality, however, revealed that there was a land dispute between the family of Satyaban Gaur and Onkar Nath Singh.
"Satyaban Gaur's family had a huge extent of land at Mango and there was an enmity over landed properties between the Gaurs and the Congress activists. The real reason behind the attack by Satyaban can be established if the police carry out a proper investigation," said a local resident of Post-Office Road, who wished to remain anonymous.
