Locals set a vehicle on fire and severely damaged seven others near Asurali Chhak in Bhadrak district late on Saturday night alleging that cattle smuggling was being carried out through the vehicles.
According to reports, as many as 180 cows were being transported from Kandharapatia village under the Dhusuri police limits in the district to West Bengal by eight pickup vans. The locals detained the vehicles at Asurali at around 2 am and found that two cows had died of suffocation inside the vehicles.
They later freed the other cows and torched a vehicle besides ransacking the other.
Police force was deployed at the spot to avoid any untoward situation as tension erupted at the place following the incident with locals resorting to a road blockade demanding arrest of the vehicle drivers.