BJD MLA held for forcing junior engineer to do sit-ups in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: A day before budget session of assembly, police on Monday arrested BJD MLA from Patnagarh Saroj Meher for allegedly forcing junior engineer (JE) Jayakant Sabar to do sit-ups in full public glare while inspecting a road work at Ghaghurli in Balangir district.
He was produced in the additional district judge court in Patnagarh. He had filed bail petition himself as the lawyers are on strike. The court extended the hearing of bail plea to July 1 and Meher was remanded in judicial custody.Meher, a first-time MLA, was on the run for past 19 days.
Deputy inspector general (northern range) Satyabrata Bhoi said based on prima facie evidence Meher was arrested and produced before the court. “Further investigation is on in the case,” he added.
Police said Meher was picked from Nuapada by a team of police. He was first brought to the police station and he faced a marathon interrogation before being produced in the court.
Earlier, Meher was booked under section 341, 363, 294, 323, 353, 355, 500 and 34 of IPC and 3 of SC/ST prevention of atrocity Act. Sabar’s wife had lodged a complaint in the police station a day after the incident. Police later registered the FIR.
Pressure was mounting on police from all directions to arrest Meher as the sit-up footage had gone viral in social media. The tribal body had laid siege to the collector office in Balangir demanding his arrest. The Balangir collector had asked for a report from the sub-collector on the incident. The sub-collector had submitted the report stating that the incident was true.
On June 5, Meher went on an inspection of different ongoing road works. He was accompanied by executive engineer Lokanath Mishra and Sabar to the site. People from nearby villages were also present during the inspection. The MLA found the quality of road work substandard and forced the JE to do sit-ups.
Suresh Kumar Nayak, sub-divisional police officer (Patnagarh) said, “We have not decided to whether to bring Meher on police remand for further interrogation”.
Meher is an established businessman in the locality. He runs a petrol pump and an event venue along with one market complex. Contested for the first time on BJD ticket, he had defeated BJP veteran and five-time MLA Kanak Vardhana Singhdeo with a huge margin.