Sundargarh: Senior BJD leader and former minister Sarada Nayak and his five associates were detained by villagers at Jarada Panchayat under Gurundia block in Sundargarh district for nearly three hours today for allegedly distributing money and various materials during Panchayat poll campaign.
The irate villagers, who refused to release Nayak, later handed him over to the police who told them that cases will be registered against them if they resort to violence.
Police later seized 52 umbrellas with the conch symbol of BJD, two liquor bottles and other materials from the vehicle used by Nayak. Apart from this, police also recovered Rs 8200 cash from him.
Bonai Sub-Collector is probing into the incident.
Prior to this incident, people of Jhirpani in the district had caught Nayak red-handed while he was distributing money to influence voters to vote in favour of BJD candidates on February 14 in gross violation of the model code of conduct.