Deogarh police on Sunday arrested local MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi and his two associates for allegedly thrashing Tileibani block development officer (BDO) Krushnachandra Dalapati yesterday.
As per sources, the legislator was arrested from his quarter in Bhubaneswar and will be forwarded to court.
BDO Dalapati had lodged a complaint against Panigrahi accusing the legislator of beating him up on Saturday.
Besides registering a complaint against the MLA, the BDO also took the matter up with the district Collector. Meanwhile, MLA Panigrahi has also lodged a counter complaint against the BDO.
Notably, Panigrahi had asked Dalapati to come and meet him over a certain issue. However as the latter was away at Chhepalipali village for an inspection, he expressed his inability to attend the meeting.
Hearing Dalapati’s answer, Panigrahi flew off the handle. In the next moment, he along with few supporters visited Chhepalipali village and reportedly thrashed the BDO.
Meanwhile, BJP has termed the arrest of Deogarh MLA Subash Chandra Panigrahi unfortunate.
Addressing the media, the saffron party’s general secretary and spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, "In his FIR, Panigrahi alleged that the BDO held him by his collar and threatened to kill him. Though the FIR was filed soon after the incident (at around 2.30 pm), the police are yet to take any action. On the other hand, when the BDO lodged a counter complaint, the police arrested the legislator immediately. I want to ask the Police department when they conducted the inquiry. It is evident that the arrest of Panigrahi is pre-planned."
On the other hand, BJD claimed that Panigrahi was arrested as per law.
"The MLA thrashed an on-duty BDO. There is nothing wrong in police arresting the legislator. Attacking someone is illegal. Earlier, Union Minister Bishweswar Tudu had thrashed two persons and now the MLA has beaten up the BDO which are really condemnable," BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said.