Aul: Police detained a man Saturday for setting a truck on fire by hurling a petrol bomb. The incident took place at Demal area in Aul block of Kendrapara district.
The accused was nabbed when he was about to set another iron loaded truck on fire.
The police are yet to reveal the identity of the man.
Police said that the man initially targeted a stone chips-loaded truck at 5am. He signalled the driver of the truck to stop at Durga Mandap. Before the driver could guess his intention, he lit a polythene pouch containing petrol and hurled it at the vehicle. The driver immediately got down and ran to the nearest police station to report the incident.
A fire-extinguisher from Aul fire station reached the spot and doused the flames. By that time the truck had completely been reduced to ashes.
The accused, meanwhile, targeted an iron ore loaded truck coming from Barbil in Keonjhar district. He stopped the truck at the petrol pump near Balakati. The inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Aul police station Soumyaranjan Panigrahi managed to nab the man when he was about to ignite the polythene pouch and throw at the truck.
Police came to know that the man had also hurled petrol bombs at two vehicles coming from Balasore. Cops are probing the matter.