Youth Arrested For Attempt To Set Municipality Executive Officer On Fire In Odisha’s Keonjhar

Keonjhar: Police have arrested a youth for attempting to set the executive officer of a municipality on fire in Odisha’s Keonjhar district on Monday.

According to sources, the youth, identified as Abhishek Gupta of Barbil market in the district, went to meet executive officer of Barbil Municipality Abhishek Panda in the latter’s chamber in connection with encroachment in front of his house.

Gupta brought out a bottle of petrol from his bag and poured it on the executive officer. While Gupta was going out set the executive officer with a lighter, the latter rushed out of the chamber and shouted for help.

The officials in the office rushed to the chamber and nabbed Gupta. Later, they handed him over to police. The executive officer also filed a complaint in this regard at Barbil police station.

Gupta had earlier complained to the municipality that some people had opened shops by encroaching the government land in front of his house. Since the shops were creating disturbance for his family, he had requested the municipality for their eviction. But no step had been taken on his complaint, the sources said.