The man also threatened to die by shooting himself, police said. (Representational)
A man held a family hostage at gunpoint in Odisha's Bolangir town on Tuesday as they rejected his marriage proposal with their niece, police said.
Wielding a gun, Bikram Panda barged into the house of Divyalochan Hota in the Shantipada area, holding him, his wife and son hostage, they said.
"He put a gun at my head and asked me to get my niece. All my appeals that she is not in our house failed to move him," Mr Hota said after being rescued.
"However, we managed to enter a room and locked it from inside," he said.
Police and fire brigade personnel brought out the family through the window, while the youth was guarding them outside the door of the room.
Mr Panda was in love with Mr Hota's niece, who works at a hospital, police said. The family of the woman recently rejected Mr Panda's proposal of marrying her.
After the family was rescued, Mr Panda locked himself in a room and threatened that he would open fire if anyone went near, police said.
"The man could be arrested after a five-hour-long operation. He fired several rounds at the police team and threatened to die by shooting himself," said Nitin Kushalkar, the superintendent of police of Bolangir.
No one was injured in the operation, he said.
Mr Panda was taken to the Town Police station for questioning, while a police team also met the woman.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)