Prominent Right to Information (RTI) activist, social worker, and freelance reporter Surath Behera was brutally attacked by unidentified miscreants in Odisha’s Balangir district.
The assault occurred outside the Bhursaguda Gram Panchayat office under the Sindhekela police station limits, leaving the Kantabanji resident with two fractured legs and a broken arm.
According to reports, Behera was allegedly lured to the isolated location near the Balangir-Kalahandi border via a phone call regarding alleged corruption in a local road construction project. Upon arriving, assailants ambushed him with iron rods. Sindhekela police rescued the profusely bleeding activist and admitted him to the local hospital for treatment.
While the exact motive and identities of the attackers remain under investigation, locals suspect a retaliatory strike. Behera had gained prominence across the Kantabanji constituency for relentlessly exposing panchayat-level irregularities and openly criticising local politicians.
The attack has sparked widespread condemnation, with residents demanding that the Balangir Superintendent of Police take swift action to arrest the culprits.
