Barbil: A youth allegedly attempted to set Barbil Municipality executive officer Abhishek Panda on fire by pouring petrol on him today in Keonjhar district. However, some alert staff of the civic body thwarted the murderous bid and rescued the official and an apparent mishap could be averted.
Meanwhile, the accused identified as Abhishek Gupta has been arrested by Barbil police.
According to a source, the accused youth all of a sudden barged into the office room of Panda and poured around two liters of highly inflammable liquid on the executive officer.
“The executive officer had a close shave as some staff, who were present near the office room at that time, overpowered the accused and rescued Panda. The accused youth was arrested and is being interrogated in connection with the incident,” a senior cop said.
“Some people had previously encroached on government land located in front of Gupta’s house and had constructed shops on it. He insisted on evicting the encroachments and was dissatisfied with the issue. Probably, for this reason, he attempted a murderous bid,” the police official expressed.
