Rourkela, Oct. 22: A friendly banter got out of hand when a teenager was hit by a bullet.

However, his friends, in order to suppress the incident, moved him from one place to another for treatment, which aggravated the injury.

Speaking to The Telegraph, deputy superintendent of police of Uditnagar Ramesh Panigrahi said: "We are verifying the antecedents of the youths and have taken three persons into custody. The injured will be taken into custody once he recovers."

According to a police source, Ashutosh Jha, the injured, Abhishek Ray, Sudip Kerketta and Rahul Rajak, all in their late teens, are friends and claim to be students of Rourkela Institute of Technology.

Last evening, the friends met at the residence of Sudip, who stays near Indo-English School. Sudip had a country-made six-rounder with him. The gun was loaded.

The friends were allegedly having fun with the weapon when it somehow got triggered and the bullet hit Ashutosh on his right tohigh.

Taken aback, the friends chalked out an escape route. They got on their motorcycles with the injured Ashutosh and took him straight to Sundargarh and fabricated the incident to a doctor, which was corroborated to the cops later.

However, the doctor found Ashutosh's condition critical, and said it was beyond his control and referred him to the Ispat General Hospital at Rourekla.

Finding no way out, the friends brought him back and he was finally admitted at Ispat General Hospital. They concocted a story to hoodwink the cops and stated that Ashutosh and Sudip were coming from Sundargarh on their motorcycle and got down to relieve themselves near Kutra. Two youths came from behind, shot at them and escaped.

The friends alleged that since it was dark, they could not spot the assailants. One bullet hit Ashutosh on his thigh and he was rushed to the Ispat General Hospital.

However, police found the narrative suspicious and resorted to individual interrogation.

The truth finally came out and it was learned that the loaded gun actually belonged to Ashutosh and it accidentally went off, injuring its owner.

Police took the friends into custody. Ashutosh will also be taken into custody once he recovers, said a police official.