Assailants loot, set ablaze vehicles in under-construction solar power plant in Jodhpur

A group of men entered an under-construction solar power plant and set ablaze a dozen vehicles at a village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district, police said on Wednesday. Nobody was injured in the incident, which is suspected to have taken place due to an old rivalry between the assailants and the plant's owner, they said.

About the incident

Staffers at the plant were fired at by the accused, who fled the area after firing on a police team that reached the spot after a call from the plant's owner, police said. SHO of Phalodi police station Rajeev Bhadu has been sent to line as a disciplinary action for dereliction of duty.  Apprehending any untoward incident, the owner of the plant claimed, he had requested for 15 policemen at the site, but all of them backed off and fled seeing the assailants. 

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Rebutting the allegations, Superintendent of Police (Jodhpur Rural) Rahul Barhat said that none of them fled from the spot and counter-fired when the assailants attacked them. "They retaliated by firing back at the assailants and succeeded in forcing them to flee," Barhat said. He said one Mahipal Bhadu had a contract of constructing a boundary-wall at the solar power plant in Dhandu village of Phalodi. He has a rivalry with his cousin Bachnaram Bhadu, who planned the attack, the police officer said citing the FIR. "Six police teams have been constituted to apprehend the assailants and some have been detained," he said. Two separate cases in the matter have been registered at Phalodi police station and adequate police force has been deployed at the plant site, he added.

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