Bhubaneswar, Dec. 19: Police today arrested five persons for allegedly chopping off the hands of two migrant labourers in Kalahandi district on December 15.

Among the five is the main accused, Parvesh Duni, a labour contractor. Others are his accomplices. “Duni has been hiring labourers for the past two years though he did not possess a valid licence. He used to send the labourers to various states, including Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” said Kalahandi superintendent of police Sarthak Sarangi.

Other accused were identified as Bana Majhi, Baikuntha Raut, Arjun Bag and the driver of the vehicle. The police said all the five accused were arrested from various parts of Nuapada district.

“Majhi, Raut and Bag were working as middlemen and all the five persons were involved in the incident. Earlier, Duni used to work under a labour contractor in Nuapada. Later, he has started his own business two years ago,” said a police official.

The two injured labourers, identified as Arjun Nial and Nilambar Dhangadamajhi, were among the 12 persons hired by the accused from various villages of Kalahandi by paying each Rs 14,000 for work in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh. But when the contractor forcefully took away all of them to Raipur in Chhattisgarh, 10 of the 12 managed to escape leaving the two victims to face the wrath of the contractor, who chopped their right palms with an axe.

In another incident, the Nuapada district administration with the help of local police arrested more than 500 migrant labourers from Khariar Road railway station this afternoon. Acting on a tip off, a team of police officials and senior district administration officials raided the station and rescued them.

A district administration official said the rescued person belonged to various parts of Nuapada, Bargarh district and some of them are also native of Chhattisgarh. He said the middlemen was taking the labourers to Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.