Court defers BJD MLA bail plea, sends him to jail

Bhubaneswar: A local special court deferred hearing of a bail petition of ruling BJD MLA Saroj Kumar Meher and sent him to jail on Monday for allegedly forcing a tribal engineer do sit-ups.

As the lawyers here are holding agitation programmes, Meher was allowed to present his own case at the court.

Pleading for bail, the MLA promised the court that he would not flee if he was granted it.

The alleged victim, PWD junior engineer Jaykant Sabar, and his wife opposed granting of bail to him and told the court that they had received threat calls.

The Bhubaneswar special court then deferred the hearing of the MLA's bail petition till July 5 and sent him to the special jail at Jharpada in Bhubaneswar, government advocate Pradipta Kumar Mishra said.

The court also asked the Jharpada jail authorities to take decision on the treatment to be given to Meher.