Youths held

Cuttack: Police arrested five youths, most of them students, for allegedly assaulting an employee of Maharaja Cinema Hall on Sunday. Cops said the employee, identified as Ranjit Kumar Panda, was allegedly assaulted by the group over parking.

Heatwave

Bhubaneswar: Heatwave conditions continued to take a toll on daily life in the state with 19 places recording a maximum temperature of 40°C and above on Sunday. Titilagarh topped the chart with 46.3°C while Sonepur was the second hottest at 45.8°C. Weathermen forecast the situation to remain the same this week.  

Accident

Balasore: Tension prevailed in Bharatpur on the city outskirts following the death of a 60-year-old man in a road mishap near Kalinga Studio. The deceased, identified as Paramananda Sethy, died after he was hit by a car on Sunday. Local residents staged a road blockade demanding the driver’s arrest. Khandagiri police later detained the driver, who also owned the vehicle.

Farmer suicide

Sambalpur: A 24-year-old farmer of Padhantikra in  Bargarh district allegedly committed suicide by consuming pesticides due to crop loss and loan burden on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Kiran Pradhan. He had grown paddy on seven acres of land and his family members and villagers said he was under severe mental trauma because of the crop loss.

Tiger count

Baripada: Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary has been closed for tourists for two weeks from Sunday as the tiger reserve has undertaken a census exercise.  Forest officials said the exercise has been undertaken after a gap of 12 years following the direction of the principal chief conservator of forests.