Rourkela (Odisha), Sep 25: Demanding a house and other property for himself from the government, a man in Odisha’s Sundargarh district has kept a school under siege for five days and injured three people with arrows and stones for coming close to him, an officer said.

The authorities needed 60 personnel of the police, fire brigade and district voluntary force, besides a drone camera and an iron mesh to capture him on Wednesday evening.

The tribal man, a resident of Phuljhar village, was arrested and taken to the local police station.

He used his bow and arrow and a slingshot to injure two policemen and the school headmaster, respectively, since Saturday afternoon when he virtually took over the three-storied building.

The school was not functioning from Monday and students were attending classes in a nearby institute.

With a bow and arrows, a slingshot and stones, Dhani Munda has been staying on the terrace of the Badjal Government Primary School under the jurisdiction of Mahulpada police station.

He dropped a piece of paper writing his demands on it when the police through public address system asked him what he wanted to leave the school building.

Munda demanded a residential building with a boundary wall and garden for him, besides property worth Rs 100 crore in the village, the officer said.

During his stay on the terrace, he shouted “This is my house” several times.

Munda had barged into the school on Saturday after an altercation with the headmaster. Following the argument, he hit the headmaster with a stone using his slingshot, drove him out and locked the school building from inside, police said.

When a group of local youths tried to climb the roof, he threatened them.

After the police were informed, inspector in charge of Mahulpada police station, Suresh Chandra Pradhan, reached the spot with his team.

Munda hit Pradhan on a palm with an arrow when he tried to climb the roof using a ladder. He needed hospitalisation. Another police officer was also injured by Munda.

Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Bonai, Swaraj Devta, then reached the spot along with fire brigade personnel.

Rourkela SP Brijesh Ray said a drone camera was used to pinpoint his location on the roof.

Finally, a section of the policemen guarding the school building kept him occupied on one side of the roof, fire brigade and district voluntary force personnel reached there from another side.

They used an iron mesh which can stop arrows and stones to capture the man, police said.

For the past five days, Munda has been having the ration stored for the students.

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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took oath as a Lok Sabha MP on Thursday following her thumping victory from Kerala's Wayanad in a bypoll.

The 52-year-old, who joins her mother Sonia and brother Rahul as an MP in what is a rare instance of three members of a family together in Parliament, took affirmation in Hindi while holding a copy of the Constitution soon after the House met.

Ravindra Chavan (Cong), who won the Nanded bypoll also took oath in Marathi in the name of God. The bypoll was necessitated following the demise of his father Vasantrao Chavan recently.

Priyanka Gandhi took the plunge into active politics in 2019 and was later appointed Congress general secretary. Five years after that, Priyanka Gandhi begins her journey as an elected representative of the people.

With a winning margin of more than 4.1 lakh votes, she surpassed the tally of her brother Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala.

Priyanka Gandhi's entry into Parliament comes at a difficult time for the party, which has been jolted by electoral defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. It would be interesting to see if she is able to give a much-needed fillip to the grand old party and help put it back on the electoral track.

Often drawing comparisons with her grandmother Indira Gandhi for their similarity in looks and way of speaking, Priyanka Gandhi has been the go-to campaigner for the party since her entry into active politics and even before that when she campaigned for her mother Sonia and brother Rahul.

Congress leaders from Wayanad handed over the election certificate of the Wayanad parliamentary by-election to Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday and conveyed their best wishes.

Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday won the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll with a thumping margin of over four lakh votes, defeating Sathyan Mokeri of the CPI(M)-led LDF.

 

further details are awaited.