BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan gets bail in OAS officer assault case

Bhubaneswar, Jul 9 (PTI) A local court here on Wednesday granted bail to BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan, who was arrested in a case involving the physical assault of a senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office.

The District and Sessions Court, Khurda has granted bail to Pradhan on security of Rs 30,000. The court has asked the government counsel to produce the telephonic conversation between Pradhan and Ratnakar Sahoo, the victim OAS officer. The court granted bail to Pradhan after the government counsel "failed" to produce evidence of conversation in the court, said advocate Suresh Kumar Sahoo.

Additional Commissioner of BMC Ratnakar Sahoo was brutally attacked, dragged on the floor of the office, kicked in the face and humiliated by a group of people, allegedly supporters of Pradhan. The viral video of the officer's assault created a statewide outrage forcing OAS officers to go on strike demanding arrest of all the accused persons including Pradhan, who is accused of masterminding the attack on Sahoo.

On Thursday night, Pradhan surrendered before the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar and was arrested and sent to jail. He was produced before the SDJM (Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate's) Court in Bhubaneswar which rejected his bail petition and sent him to a 14-day judicial custody.

Pradhan was booked under various sections of BNS which deals with offences like assault on public servants, obstructing government work, and causing grievous injury.

The BJP leader surrendered before the police as the members of the OAS Association went on a cease-work agitation across the state.

Earlier, police had arrested five persons in connection with the case. While Pradhan was granted bail today, the hearing of the bail petition of the other five accused is scheduled to be held on July 15, the advocate said. PTI AAM AAM RG