The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday suspended a corporator and four others in connection with the alleged assault of an additional commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation in Odisha on Monday amid widespread outrage over the incident.
On Monday morning, a group of BJP activists led by its corporator Aparup Narayan Rout allegedly assaulted the additional commissioner Ratnakar Sahu over allegations that he insulted its state executive committee member Jagannath Pradhan.
BJP state president Manmohan Samal suspended its corporator Aparup Narayan Rout, Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, Debasis Pradhan, Sachikanta Swain and Sanjeev Mishra from the party over their involvement in the incident.
As the incident sparked outrage, the Bhubaneswar police arrested the corporator and three others after the additional commissioner lodged a first information report (FIR). Police have charged the three with several sections of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, including attempt to murder, waging or attempting to wage war against the government and conspiracy to wage war against the government– all non-bailable offences.
However, police and the BJP leadership were silent on Jagannath Pradhan.
{{/usCountry}}However, police and the BJP leadership were silent on Jagannath Pradhan.
{{/usCountry}}“In my six years in politics, I have never witnessed such an act. The law will take its course, and strict punishment should be ensured so that such incidents are not repeated. Police are doing their job,” said Aparajita Sarangi, BJP MP from Bhubaneswar.
The Odisha Administrative Service, of which the additional commissioner was a member, had threatened to go on a mass leave from Tuesday, but postponed the move after chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi promised exemplary punishment. However, the OAS and Odisha Revenue Service officers in 14 of 30 districts including Balasore and Cuttack went on mass leave.
The additional commissioner said he was still traumatised by the incident. “I would have been killed the way they were kicking me. I want all the accused, including the mastermind, to be arrested as soon as possible,” said Sahu.
In the FIR, he had written that the assailants threatened him to “come to Jagannath Pradhan and apologise”.
Amid the developments, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) questioned the government as to why no action was being taken against alleged mastermind of the incident Jagannath Pradhan. “His men went to the BMC office and beat up the additional commissioner. Why is the government protecting him?” asked BJD MLA Anant Narayan Jena, who had defeated Pradhan by a slender margin of 37 votes in 2024 assembly polls in Bhubaneswar-Central constituency.
Pradhan, a former corporator of BMC who has been defeated in three consecutive assembly polls since 2014, said, “They are just trying to tarnish my image. They are creating unnecessary drama to defame me. What happened in the BMC is unfortunate, and we condemn it. But why is no one asking the Mayor about the incident as she was present during the incident and could have asked the security officials present there to protect the additional commissioner. It appears they allowed this to happen, filmed the incident, and circulated it in the media to politicise the matter,” said Pradhan.
Pradhan said on Monday morning he had telephoned the additional commissioner questioning his misbehavior towards a female sanitation worker Rebati Rout. “I called the additional commissioner as he had reportedly spoken harshly to the woman sanitation worker and questioned her for joining a BJP rally addressed by PM Modi last month. When I asked the additional commissioner why he humiliated the sanitation worker, he responded rudely, questioning who am I to ask him,” he said, claiming that he had already raised this matter with the BMC commissioner.
The female worker has also lodged an FIR at the Kharavel Nagar police station in this connection.She alleged that the additional commissioner in coordination with local BJD corporator and the corporator’s husband, warned her that participating in BJP activities could cost her the job. Following this, Pradhan reportedly posted on social media, saying, “Clapping needs two hands,” implying that allegation in the matter is not one-sided.