The damaged city bus at Lingaraj police station in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 16: Three youths were arrested last night for ransacking a city bus and assaulting its staff at Samantarapur Square. The accused trio — Sushant Mohanty of Puri, Pratap Kumar Jena of Pipli and Ashis Kumar Jena of Niladrivihar area in Bhubaneswar — have been sent to judicial custody today after their bail plea was rejected.

Lingaraj police said the trio had attacked the bus staff, injuring the driver and two conductors. The goons also ransacked the bus in front of the police and assaulted an on-duty police constable.

The city bus was coming from Puri, when these three youths who were coming in a car stopped the vehicle near Chandanpur and assaulted the staff. “They said we did not let them overtake us. So they stopped the bus and beat us inside it,” said Niranjan Routray the driver of the bus who lodged the complaint.

The passengers and bus staff caught and handed them over to the Pipili police. “We lodged a complaint with the Pipili police. However, instead of taking any steps against the goons, they let them free after they claimed they were close to a political leader of the area,” said a bus staff member.

Later, these youths followed the bus and started creating obstructions in front of it near Uttara. However, the bus staff informed Lingaraj police in advance before the bus entered their area. The goons stopped the bus near Samantarapur where the police patrolling van was waiting. “They ransacked the bus and assaulted us in front of the police. When the cops tried to interfere, the goons assaulted them also,” said Santosh Mallick, one of the conductor who suffered injuries in the attack.

Routray and conductors Santosh Mallick and Sangram Prdhan suffered injuries. They were admitted to Capital Hospital and were released after preliminary treatment.

Lingaraj police later arrested two goons. The third fled in his car. Following complaints from the driver, the police registered a case and booked the accused under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 294 (obscene acts and song), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 379 (theft), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused were sent to Jharapada jail this evening after their bail plea was rejected by a local court.

Named Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Service Limited thre city bus took more than eight months to reach Puri although the service began in Bhubaneswar last year on October 10.