Mercury soars

Bhubaneswar: Titilagarh recorded a temperature of 47.5°C on Friday, the highest recorded temperature for the state this season. Other interior parts, including Sambalpur, Balangir, Bhawanipatna and Sonepur, also recorded temperatures above the 45°C mark. Officials in the Met department have predicted a continuation of similar heatwave conditions next week. 

Property

Bhubaneswar: The vigilance directorate has begun attaching the illegally acquired properties of former Athgarh divisional forest officer Suddhansu Mohan Mishra, who was arrested on February 25, for accumulating properties disproportionate to his known sources of income. The department would soon move the appropriate court in this connection.

Harass charge

Bhubaneswar: Police have registered a case against a teacher in Kendrapara district for alleged sexual harassment of three girls. The accused, Bipin Bihari Geru, 40, a teacher at the government-run Marsaghai Upper Primary School allegedly behaved in an indecent manner with the three girls recently. They informed a woman teacher about the incident, who lodged an FIR against the accused on Friday. Acting on the  FIR, police have begun investigating the case.