Misinterpretation on the part of locals about an incident misled Fire Service personnel and wasted their precious time at the Mundali bridge here on Tuesday.
Locals spotted a scooter in an abandoned state on the bridge this morning while helmet and slippers were found near the vehicle. They concluded that a person jumped into the Mahanadi from the bridge and went missing.
Being informed by them, police and Fire Service personnel reached the spot and launched a search operation for the person.
The misinterpretation also misled TV news channels as they reported that a man jumped into the river after parking his two-wheeler on the bridge.
Later, the truth came to light as one Raghuranjan Mohapatra of Similipada in Angul district had parked the scooter and gone to Bhubaneswar after the vehicle malfunctioned midway.
“I left my house last night due to a family dispute. As the vehicle developed a snag on the bridge, I parked it there and went to the Baramunda Bus-Stand in a truck. I slept at the bus-stand. As I came to know in the morning that my vehicle was seized by police, I came to the Godipada police outpost,” he said.
On being asked about the slippers, he said those were not his.
