RAUTAHAT: An unknown group has torched the Chandrapur Municipality-3 ward office in Rautahat district on Tuesday night. The group also placed a bomb near the office.

According to police, the perpetrators poured the petrol over the office and set ablaze the ward office at Gaindatar at around midnight on Tuesday.

All the documents and other properties including Laptops, Desktop computers, printer, and invertor housed inside the office were razed in the arson attack, informed the Ward Chairperson, Bodhnath Devkota. The group also picketed the house of the ward chair and broke the window glasses.

Later, a squad deployed from Indrabaks Battalion of Nepali Army defused the bomb preventing any human casualties, informed Rautahat District Police Office (DPO).

Meanwhile, the search is on for the arsonists in the surrounding forest. Stringent action will be taken against the culprits responsible for the attack, informed Spokesperson at  the DPO, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nabin Karki.

No one has taken responsibility for the vandalisation and arson attack, police said.