Cuttack: The Cuttack Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court today granted bail to Cuttack Nagar Congress president Mohammed Moquim and 16 others, who were arrested for ransacking Purighat Police Station on September 11.
The court allowed Moquim to be released on bail against a bail bond of Rs 20,000 and a surety.
Following his release, Moquim said, “To divert the attention from Damodar Rout’s expulsion from BJD, police arrested me and my co-workers. The move was politically-motivated.”
He further stated the fight against injustice will continue. “Fight for the people of Cuttack will continue and no police or administration can stop it,” Moquim added.
Earlier, OPCC Chief Niranjan Patnaik had said the arrest of Moquim was only to settle political scores.
Earlier on Thursday, police had conducted a midnight raid on the residences Moquim and three Congress corporators and detained as many as 24 Congress workers.
Today, Cuttack DCP Akhileshwar Singh had informed that a total of 17 Congress activists have been arrested out of the 24 detained.
Addressing a presser, Singh had said Moquim and a woman corporator of the party were arrested as five and three cases respectively are pending against them.
On September 10, the Congress workers had ransacked the Purighat Police Station and staged a road blockade protesting arrest of one of their members, who tried to barge into the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) office during the ‘Bharat Bandh’ observed by the party.