Panchayat elections-related violence claimed its first casualty in Cuttack district on Tuesday when a BJD sympathiser died while undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College Hospital here on Tuesday morning.
Surendra Naik (60) of Podana village under Kapasi panchayat in Niali block was brutally attacked by unidentified persons near his village late on Monday evening when he was returning home by his motorcycle. Elections in Niali block are scheduled for February 21.
Soon after the news of the attack on Naik reached the BJD camp, a group of angry party workers launched a major offensive targeting Niali Congress leader and former MlA Rabi Mallick and his supporters.
At least ten houses belonging to Congress supporters and Mallick were set on fire. The BJD workers also torched as many as three vehicles during their hour-long rampage, reports reaching said. “We have registered two cases in this connection, each filed by rival groups,” SDPO Mohapatra said, adding that at least three platoons of armed police were deployed in the panchayat, where the situation continued to remain tense.