Odisha lady BDO accuses father and brother of assault, files police complaint

The woman Block Development Officer (BDO) of Koida in Sundargarh district, Pallabi Rani Raj continues to be in news for the past couple of weeks. 

Amid demands for her transfer, the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer has filed a complaint against her father Ramesh Chandra and brother Sangram Kumar at Koida police station alleging assault.

In her complaint, she alleged that her father and brother entered her official residence on Tuesday night and thrashed her and an assistant engineer.

As per her complaint, Pallabi’s brother has been working as a contractor in Koida area. They recently had a heated exchange over clearing of pending bills related to the works. 

Following the development, Ramesh and Sangram entered Pallabi’s official residence last night and thrashed her and Assistant engineer Abhishek Panigrahi.

However, reactions of the BDO’s father and brother in this regard could not be obtained.

Notably, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had been demanding transfer of the BDO alleging her involvement in corruption and nepotism. The party supporters also observed a six-hour bandh in the area from 6 am to 12 pm last week to press for their demand.

The agitating members blocked roads at important junctions affecting the vehicular movement in the area. Alleging improper utilisation of developmental funds and unruly behaviour towards the public representative, the agitators demanded immediate transfer of the officer. 

Earlier, Congress and BJP had also demanded transfer of Koida BDO alleging high-handedness and attempt to diminish the importance of people’s representatives.

(Reported by Sunil Panda)