"Officers not safe in Odisha," says state's Congress in-charge on the assault of BMC official

The Odisha Congress in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu criticised the assult on Ratnakar Sahoo, Additional Commissioner of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) by the Bharatiya Janta Party leader Jagannath Pradhan and said that Odisha is turning into "Jungle Raj". He blamed BJP, which is also the ruling party in Odisha, for the protest by the IAS fraternity, which has brought everything to a standstill.

He said, "Officers are not safe in Odisha. A municipal officer was dragged, kicked, and hit with shoes. It is clear who is responsible for this. All the IAS officers are protesting, and everything is at a standstill. In the state, where a conflict exists between the party and the government, where public interest and sentiments are not respected, such a place has turned into Jungle Raj."

Earlier, BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan surrendered at the DCP office in Bhubaneswar and was subsequently arrested by the police.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Odisha unit has suspended five of its members over their alleged involvement in the violence at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office, where Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo was assaulted on Monday.

Odisha BJP's media cell said that the party's state unit chief Manmohan Samal has suspended five leaders - Corporator Aparup Narayan Raut, Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra, Debashish Pradhan, Sachikanth Swain and Sanjeev Mishra, from the primary membership of the BJP based on allegations related to the violence at the BMC office.

Apart from this, BMC has strongly condemned the assault on its Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo by a group of individuals.

BMC Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil expressed shock over the incident and assured that strict action would be taken against those involved.

"The incident occurred while Mr Sahoo was attending to public grievances. We all condemn this ghastly act. An FIR was immediately lodged, and three people have been arrested. We have spoken to senior police officials and want stern action to be taken against the culprits. After this incident, we will certainly strengthen the security of our officers," Patil told ANI.

Sahoo said that he was "brutally attacked" by five-six people while he was in his office.

"When I was addressing public grievances, suddenly, nearly five-six persons accompanied by a Corporator named Jeevan arrived. He asked me if I had misbehaved with Jagga Bhai. To which, I said no. Suddenly, these people brutally attacked me. They dragged me and also tried to abduct me and take me to a vehicle. One of the Corporators rescued me. The mayor came to my rescue. An FIR has been lodged in this case. I have faith in law," he told ANI.

An FIR has been registered at Bhubaneswar's Kharvelnagar Police Station regarding the incident, and six people have been arrested so far.