Police here on Wednesday said they thwarted a couple’s bid to set themselves afire to protest against civic body’s action of razing down a portion of their building that had encroached upon a storm water drain (SWD).

Later, the civic agency identified many houses, which encroached upon storm water drains. One of the houses was at KR Puram, where the residence was encroaching upon at least 2.5 metres of the storm water drain.