Assault on senior OAS officer: Odisha BJP chief suspends five party workers

A day after Odisha Administrative Services (OAS) officer and Additional Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Ratnakar Sahoo was assaulted by some alleged supporters of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jagannath Pradhan, the party state unit president Manmohan Samal on Tuesday suspended five BJP workers, including a corporator from the primary membership of the party.

- PBD BUREAU/IANS

The suspended party workers include Corporator Apurup Narayan Rout, Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, Debashis Pradhan, Sachikant Swain and Sanjeev Mishra.

Acting on the FIR lodged by the victim OAS officer Sahoo, the police had earlier arrested three of the BJP workers, namely Raut, Mohapatra and Pradhan for their involvement in the assault.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan on Tuesday claimed that the allegations made against him by Mayor Sulochana Das and other BJD leaders were nothing but political vendetta.

"I condemn the attack on the Additional Commissioner. Action has already been taken against the accused, and the Chief Minister has also held discussions with BMC officials and other stakeholders. We extend full sympathy to Ratnakar Sahoo. This incident should not have happened," said Pradhan.

The BJP leader further added that if anyone from his constituency takes his name while committing a crime it does not imply his involvement.

"How could such an incident happen inside a secure office when the Mayor herself was present? It appears they allowed this to happen, filmed the incident, and circulated it in the media to politicise the matter," alleged Pradhan while questioning the security arrangements at the BMC office.

Giving the background of the incident, Pradhan alleged that the public outrage against the senior officer of the BMC stemmed from an issue involving a Swachh Sathi — a sanitation volunteer supported by Mission Shakti — from his constituency.