Toll Plaza Employees Arrested For Refusing To Allow Odisha Minister's Car To Pass

Rourkela: Three employees of a toll plaza in Sundergarh district were arrested on Sunday for allegedly refusing to allow the State Labour minister Sushant Singh's car to pass through the toll gate last night.

According to sources, the incident took place at around 2 am on Saturday night when Singh was on his way to Sundergarh from Bhubaneswar to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Government College.

His car reached Mansikani toll plaza on Biju Expressway at around 1 PM where he was stopped by the employees of the toll gate.

Though Singh’s PSO told the toll plaza employees about the identity of the minister, they allegedly did not allow the vehicle to pass through the toll gate.

Later, the minister himself got out of his car and revealed his identity, however, the toll employees refused to allow them through the gate.

The minister lost his cool and got into a heated argument with them and the commotion continued for around two hours.

Later, Singh called up the district collector and superintendent of police (SP) and demanded strong action against three staff of the toll gate.

Soon Sundergarh police rushed to the spot and took three employees of the toll gate into custody. After preliminary interrogation and based on the statements made by the minister, police have arrested all three employees. Further probe has been launched based on the footage of CCTV installed at the toll gate.

While minister has refused to comment on the incident and clarified that he would make statement later, comments could not be obtained from the toll plaza authorities too.