Bhubaneswar, May 20: On Monday morning, an auto-rickshaw driver was brutally killed by a group of armed men in Sarsara village, within the Sadar police limits of Odisha’s Bargarh district. The incident, occurring during regional polls, has caused widespread alarm throughout the district.

The victim has been identified as Biswanath Mirdha.

Reports indicate that while polling was underway at a booth in the Government Primary School in Sarsara village, a group of individuals armed with sharp weapons began terrorizing voters. Biswanath, who was transporting voters to the polling station in his auto-rickshaw, confronted the attackers. In retaliation, he was viciously beaten, and one assailant critically injured him with a bhujali.

Biswanath was rushed to a nearby medical facility, where he was pronounced dead.

Following the incident, IG Himanshu Lal and Bargarh SP Prahallad Sai Meena arrived at the scene. They managed to calm the protesting crowd and arranged for the body to be sent for a post-mortem examination.

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