Tension gripped Advasi Sahi of Dadhimachagadia under the Sadar police station in Khordha district after unidentified miscreants on Monday set ablaze more than 60 houses over the murder of a stone crusher unit owner of the village.
By the time fire tenders reached the place, houses which were mostly of mud with thatched roofs had been reduced to ashes. Even two tractors caught fire.
The miscreants also lobbed crude hand bombs at a police camp injuring at least three Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) jawans. Four platoons of policemen were deployed in the area to maintain law and order following the murder, reports said.
ADGP (law and Order) Satyajit Mohanty said, “Nine persons have been arrested in connection with the crusher owner’s murder.”
Notably, unknown assailants had brutally stoned to death Sujit Biswal, proprietor of a stone crusher unit at Dadhimacchagadia under Sadar police limits in Khordha district late on Saturday evening.