BHUBANESWAR/BARBIL : A man allegedly tried to set ablaze the executive officer of Barbil municipality in Keonjhar district on Monday for reportedly not looking into his complaint of encroachments near his house.
Sources said the accused Abhishek Gupta went to the municipality office and had a heated exchange with the executive officer Abhisek Panda over the encroachments. Gupta then allegedly took out a bottle containing petrol and poured it on the officer.
He then took out a lighter and attempted to set Panda on fire. However, the officer raised an alarm and other staff present in the office managed to overpower Gupta and handed him over to the police. “As per initial investigation, Gupta poured petrol on the officer and tried to set him on fire. Further probe is on,” said Keonjhar SP, Kusalkar Nitin Dagdu.
The police have registered a case in this connection under sections 307 and 353 of the IPC and Gupta has been arrested. Sources said Gupta had earlier complained that few miscreants had encroached upon government land and opened shops near his house.
He had requested Barbil municipality officials to evict the illegal shops as he and his family members were facing problems due to those shopkeepers but to no avail. Police said they have received allegations about the encroachments on government land but they did not confirm that Gupta attacked the municipality officer over the same reason.