Several passengers were attacked with a sharp weapon inside a government-run bus in Odisha's Puri district today. The Ama bus - Odisha's public transport bus service - was travelling from Haraspada in the Kanasa block of Puri district to Satyabari Sukal - when a man forcibly entered the bus and started attacking passengers.
CCTV footage showed the man, allegedly intoxicated, threatening passengers with a machete. He was seen talking to a man; moments later, he hit him in the head, scaring the other passengers. Many on the bus were seen getting up from their seats and trying to get away from the attacker.
The man then goes on to attack more people on the bus.
Following the attack, the other passengers in the bus assaulted the accused, and he also sustained injuries.
In another clip, where his face was visible, the man was seen standing on a seat, and, what seemed like, instructing people to deboard the bus.
In a third clip, the man, still holding the machete in his right hand, was seen pacing around the bus and checking something on his phone.
Superintendent of Police, Puri, Prateek Singh, said the police admitted the injured, including the accused, to the Kanas Community Health Centre and later transferred two of them to the Puri District Headquarters Hospital. The accused is undergoing treatment at the hospital, he said.
A case will be filed against the accused, and necessary legal action will be taken against him, police said.
Meanwhile, Puri police have intensified patrolling along the route, where the bus that was targeted was operating, to prevent any further incidents.
With inputs from Dev Kumar Ghosh