Bhubaneswar, Feb. 3: Panic gripped Daruthenga village in the Chandaka police limits after villagers had found around 10 bullets hitting the outer walls of their houses.
The bullets were ricocheted (rebounded off a surface)from the Special Operation Group (SOG)camp located around 1.5km from the village on the city outskirts. The SOG officials also confirmed that the bullets had ricocheted from the camp during practice session.
A villager said that around 10.30am, they heard the sound of bullets. When they came out of their houses they were shocked to see the outer walls with holes of around two inches. They also found bullet shells.
'We were inside our house when we heard the sound of firing. When we came out, we found bullet marks on our walls. One of the bullets even hit the outer wall of an upper primary school,' said villager Pradeep Kumar Swain.
Sukanti Behera, a homemaker, also alleged that she had escaped an injury when a bullet almost hit her while she was offering prayer outside her home. 'I was offering prayer when I heard a sound.I also found a bullet shell near my house,' she said.
Following the incident, the villagers collected around nine bullet shells and produced those before Chandaka police. The police suspected that the bullets were fired from Insas rifles.
'The bullets have ricocheted after hitting the target during the firing practice. The bullets tend to lose speed after hitting the target. These are not likely to affect humans,' said inspector general of the group S.K. Priyadarsi.
However, the villagers are not ready to buy the police theory. 'If the bullets are capable of creating carter on stone walls, how could not they pierce the body of humans. The authorities should conduct firing practice with precaution, and they do not have any right to put our lives under risk,' said Jiban Sahu, a villager.