A police vehicle burnt by angry villagers in Kamsara in Subarnapur. Telegraph picture

Sonepur, July 12: Tension gripped Kamsara village of Subarnapur district today as angry villagers ransacked the police beat house and set ablaze a police jeep parked in front of it. The irate villagers were protesting police inaction against a murder accused who had escaped from police custody last night.

This morning, around a thousand villagers gheraoed the police beat house in Kamsara, 35km from here, demanding arrest of the murder accused. The villagers also ransacked the shops of the murder accused’s uncles.

Sources said one Sumanta Rana, 19, and Kalakanhu Podh, 11, of Kamsara village had gone out together yesterday. Sumanta returned home in the afternoon while Kalakanhu did not come back. Family members of Kalakanhu searched the entire village, but could not find him.

In the evening, they reported the matter to the police who registered a missing case. Police suspected Sumanta of foul play and detained him in custody last night. However, Sumanta escaped from custody. Meanwhile, the villagers discovered the missing boy's body tied in a gunny bag this morning. It was hidden in a pit about a kilometre away from the village.

Tension erupted as villagers in large numbers gheraoed the police beat house for more than six hours. Meanwhile the angry villagers ransacked the beat house and set ablaze a police jeep.

Raju Bibhar, a resident of Kamsara villager, said it was utter negligence on part of the police who allowed such a criminal to escape.

“It is very unfortunate that a criminal could escape from police custody. The police should have been more alert as the accused was charged with murder. Today after the body has been found it is clear that the accused murdered the boy. We demand his immediate arrest,” Bibhar said.

Meanwhile, a scientific team arrived from Balangir to help in the investigation. Inspector-in-charge of Tarabha police station, Bhojaraj Pradhan said the police had begun a manhunt to nab the culprit.

“We have constituted a squad which has launched a manhunt to arrest the culprit. We have seized the body and sent it for postmortem. The scientific team from Balangir just arrived here to help the police in the investigation. The motive of the murder is yet to be ascertained,” said Pradhan

Sub-divisional police officer of Sonepur Pramod Kumar Patel said action would be taken against the police personnel who were responsible for the escape of the accused.