Youth hacks meter reader to death over high electricity bill in Odisha's Ganjam district

The accused youth, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, attacked the meter reader as he was aggrieved over the high electricity bill.

Berhampur (Odisha): In a shocking incident, a youth allegedly hacked to death an electricity meter reader at Kupati village in Ganjam district on Monday, the police said. According to the police, the deceased, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, was working as a meter reader with the electricity department in Odisha. He went to the Kupati village on Monday morning to get the electric meter reading. However, the accused, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, was aggrieved over the high electricity bill.

The anger took to a heated argument between the accused and Laxmi Narayan over the electricity bill. In a fit of rage, the consumer attacked Laxminarayan leading to his death. The police also mentioned that even earlier, there was a dispute between Laxminarayan and the accused in the past over the electricity bill.

After receiving the information, police rushed to the spot and recovered a body lying outside the consumer's house in a pool of blood and was identified as Laxmi Narayan. However, the accused had managed to flee. The police registered a case of murder under Section 302 of IPC and launched the investigation.

The whole village is in a state of shock following the murder. In a similar incident, when two officials of the UP electricity department went to collect the pending power dues of Rs 20,000, they were threatened by a local leader and he pointed out his rifle at them.