Paradip, Nov. 5: Security has been stepped up at Kujang block headquarters township near the port town as tension gripped the area following the death of a local resident in a fire mishap early this morning.

A salesman of a foreign liquor shop was charred to death after the fire broke out and gutted the shop.

The charred body of Ulhash Jena, 38, a Pankapala villager, was later recovered from the shop.

Police said Jena used to stay in the shop at night. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Traffic was thrown out of gear by the protests on the busy Cuttack-Paradip state highway as irate local residents staged a roadblock. They alleged that some goons had set the shop on fire.

"It was not an accidental fire, but an act of sabotage. The deceased's family members should be duly compensated," said protester Sarbeswar Maharana.

"We are trying to find out if the shop was set on fire," said Paradip additional police superintendent Gadadhar Pradhani.