Bhubaneswar, July 1 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.
The suspended party workers include Corporator Aparup Narayan Raut, 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.
“She was assigned the task of mobilising beneficiaries for a recent government event marking one year of the State Government’s formation, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to join. She fulfilled her duty, but BJD-backed people and the Additional Commissioner targeted her for helping make the event successful,” claimed Pradhan.
Pradhan said he had raised the matter with the BMC Commissioner after learning that the volunteer was harassed by officials.
“The persons involved had only gone to the BMC office to discuss the issue. Unfortunately, an altercation broke out, which could have been avoided. But the Mayor unnecessarily escalated the matter,” he added.
On the other hand, the Swachh Sathi concerned, Rebati Rout claimed that BMC Additional Commissioner Sahoo had allegedly threatened that she would lose her job for facilitating people to take part in the recent rally of Prime Minister Modi in Bhubaneswar.
Notably, at around 11:30 A.M. on Monday, when the public grievance meeting was in progress in the presence of other officers, staff and general people at the BMC office, six to seven unknown individuals entered the premises unauthorisedly and assaulted Sahoo after enquiring whether he had a conversation with BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan over the phone.
The Odisha Administrative Service Association (OASA) came out in support of Sahoo announcing that it would go on mass leave from Tuesday.
However, the association deferred its protest call following discussions with Chief Minister Mohan Majhi who assured stringent action against the culprits involved in the incident.
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