Congress MLA Dhanurjay Sidhu being taken to a Cuttack hospital. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Feb. 27: In a daring assassination attempt, three unidentified persons sprayed bullets on a Congress MLA in Keonjhar district last night, leaving him critically injured.

Along with Dhanurjay Sidhu, the MLA from Champua in Keonjhar, a sarpanch accompanying him was also injured in the attack at Bhadrasahi, around 300 km from the state capital.

Sidhu received treatment at the Tisco Hospital in Joda where doctors removed two bullets from his abdomen. One of the bullets was still lodged in a thigh when the doctors recommended that he be shifted to Bhubaneswar or Cuttack for further treatment.

A private helicopter carried Sidhu to a helipad in Cuttack this afternoon from where he was taken to SCB Medical College and Hospital. The MLA could communicate only through hand gestures.

The incident took place when the MLA was travelling from Bhadrasahi to Serenda last night. At an intersection near Hotel Nelson, where Sidhu’s Scorpio had stopped because of traffic, three unidentified youths appeared on a two-wheeler and started firing at the MLA’s vehicle.

Sidhu ran towards the hotel and the trio started chasing him. They fired from their pistols from close range, three of the bullets hitting the MLA. Another bullet grazed a finger of the sarpanch, Bhagaban Baramba, who was accompanying Sidhu.

A bleeding Sidhu entered the hotel screaming for help. The hotel owner and some others rushed him to the Barbil government hospital. The doctors there referred him to Tisco Hospital in Joda, a distance of around 10 km.

There, in an operation that lasted three hours, doctors removed two bullets from the MLA’s abdomen but did not declare him “out of danger”.

The criminals fired around 14 rounds before fleeing. Police recovered six used and two unused bullets from the spot. A team of experts also visited the place today. Baramba’s injury, said sources, was not too serious.

The police are looking for the possible motive behind the murder attempt. “We do not know for sure as of now. It can be political or business rivalry. We also do not know if they were Naxalites,” said additional superintendent of police Nigamananda Tripathy.

Doctors at SCB Medical College said the MLA was “stable” today after being put under emergency treatment. “He is under critical care and his condition is under control,” said Pramod Mallick, head of the department, surgery. “We will start an operation immediately after the required tests are conducted and the reports are available.”

The legislator reportedly underwent CT scan and other tests. The operation was expected to start in the evening.

All three youths were understood to be below 25 years and they spoke in Hindi. Police suspect that they were the same youths who had looted Rs 1.5 lakh from a petrol pump at Rugudi the same afternoon.

The trio is suspected to have escaped to Jharkhand. “We have sealed all exit routes and are raiding various places to catch the accused,” said superintendent of police Ghanshyam Upadhyaya.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, meanwhile, ordered a crime branch probe into the attack on Sidhu.

The Congress called a 12-hour bandh in the Joda-Barbil area today to protest against the attack. “The situation is tense and we have sent forces there,” said Tripathy. The party has also called a district bandh tomorrow.