Berhampur, March 12: Residents of Satapentha Gopalpur village in Ganjam looted 95 bags of rice and wheat from the panchayat godown on Thursday after being irked over non-supply of food grains for the past five months.

"The villagers barged into the panchayat office and locked up executive officer A. Rabi Kumar and peon Arun Pradhan in a room. They tore many important documents on identification of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, broke the door of the godown and took away rice and wheat bags forcibly," said panchayat officer Niranjan Patra.

They also damaged the executive officer's motorcycle parked on the office premises.

Officer in charge of Patapur police station Ajay Kumar Barik registered a case after the panchayat officer lodged complaint on the same day. "We have detained one person, Kuna Pradhan, and launched search operation at the village," said Barik.

Requesting anonymity, a village said the identification process for the beneficiaries under the act had been pending and the supply of food grains through the public distribution system stopped for five months.

"There were 597 rice and 41 wheat bags stored inside the godown. The villagers have looted 64 bags of rice and 31 bags of wheat from the godown. When the block officials and the police reached the spot, they fled away and left 22 bags of rice and wheat. As many as 63 bags of rice and wheat are still missing," said the panchayat officer.