SAMBALPUR: Irked over delay in redressal of a land dispute, a 30-year-old man on Friday set the Rengali tehsil office on fire and then went live on Facebook to justify his act. The man, Rajib Kisan of Gumkarma village within Thelkuli police limits, reached the tehsil office in an auto-rickshaw with a container of petrol at around 10 am. He entered the office premises and poured petrol all around before anyone could react. He then set the office on fire. There were three employees in the office during the incident.
Soon after, Kisan went live on Facebook to vent out his anger. In the video, Kisan said, “My land under Rengali tehsil was sold by some people by using forged documents. Though I approached the administration several times in the past for help, no action was taken. My family has been suffering due to the delay. I was forced to take such a drastic step. I have set ablaze the tehsil office for the sake of my family. Let them do whatever they want to.”
Many important documents besides furniture, computers and other articles were gutted. On being informed by tehsil office employees, fire brigade and police reached the spot. It took around an hour for the fire personnel to douse the fire. Police nabbed Kisan from the spot.
Rengali tehsildar Sunil Meher said, “I rushed to the office after being informed about the incident. Many articles and important papers were destroyed in the fire. However, the record room is safe. The loss caused due to fire is yet to be ascertained.”
Meher further said the man claims that he had come to the tehsil office several times for redressal of the land dispute in the last 16 years but has never met him during his one-year tenure as tehsildar. The tehsil officials informed that the land dispute of Kisan took place in 2004.
Rengali IIC Dhabaleswar Sahu said during interrogation, Kisan told police that he set the tehsil office on fire as no one listened to his grievance. He has already been booked under Sections 450 and 346 of the IPC besides Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act. Further investigation into the incident is on, he added.