Migrant worker from Bengal dies after being attacked by locals in Odisha

A construction worker from West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was killed when miscreants attacked him and two other workers in Western Odisha’s Sambalpur town on Wednesday evening, December 24, 2025, demanding an Aadhaar card.

While the Odisha police claimed that “the murder was related to sudden provocation”, the contractor who employed them in Sambalpur said: “The miscreants, who named the workers as Bangladeshis, sought Aadhaar proof to prove their nationality and when they were about to show their Aadhar cards, they launched a sudden attack from behind.”

Labor contractor Haque Saheb narrated: “20-year-old Jual Rana and two other workers in their early twenties went out for tea around 7 pm. Suddenly a group of four to five men appeared and called my workers Bangladeshis. They demanded proof in the form of Aadhar card. While my workers went to collect their own Aadhaar cards, they started beating them with a stick. The deceased was hit on the head and succumbed to the injuries while being taken to the hospital.” He is from Jungipur district of Murshidabad.

Mr. Saheb said that they have been working peacefully in Sambalpur district for the last 13 years and have never faced such violence.

Inspector General of Police Himansu Lal (north) in his statement circulated among media persons said, “All the accused in the murder case registered at Ainthapali police station of Sambalpur have been arrested. Further scientific investigations are ongoing as per law. Murder is about sudden provocation. It is not about targeting anyone.” It was stated that the condition of the two workers who were taken to the hospital was stable.

Additional Commissioner of Police Srimant Barik continued: “The workers had friendship with a certain group of locals in Sambalpur. They used to eat together. Under the influence of alcohol, the locals asked for Bidi. A fight broke out between them. One person was attacked as a result of sudden provocation. The head trauma caused by the attack led to the death of one person.”

In August, Jharsuguda district police, which borders Sambalpur, detained 444 people on suspicion of illegal immigration. However, upon verification, it was revealed that the majority were workers from West Bengal.