Bhubaneswar, June 30 (UNI) The Commissionerate Police today arrested three individuals, including a BJP corporator, for assaulting Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahu inside the corporation office.
The incident sparked widespread resentment among BMC employees, who, along with several BJD corporators and leaders, staged a road blockade on the busy Bani Vihar–Master Canteen stretch in the evening.
The protest brought vehicular movement to a standstill for several hours, causing severe inconvenience to commuters.
Police later removed the protesters, including some BJD leaders, and restored traffic flow.
The arrests were made after Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahu lodged a formal complaint, stating that six unidentified individuals entered his chamber while he was conducting a public grievance redressal meeting.
The assailants, including the BJP corporator, allegedly dragged him out of his office into the portico and assaulted him in full public view. A video of the incident has since gone viral on social media.
Former Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik strongly condemned the attack and urged Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to take swift and exemplary action—not just against the perpetrators, but also the political leaders who allegedly orchestrated and conspired in the assault.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Patnaik wrote: “I am utterly shocked by the video showing Ratnakar Sahu, an OAS officer and Additional Commissioner of BMC—a rank equivalent to Additional Secretary—being dragged from his office and brutally kicked and assaulted in the presence of a BJP corporator, allegedly linked to a defeated BJP MLA candidate.” He further added that those named in the FIR behaved like criminals.
“If a senior officer is not safe inside his own office, what kind of law and order can an ordinary citizen expect from this government?” he questioned.
The Leader of Opposition also expressed hope that Chief Minister Majhi would order immediate action to restore public confidence and ensure that the culprits do not go unpunished—unlike in
the case of a past assault involving the son of a former Governor. “The people of Odisha will not forgive this,” Patnaik warned.
Meanwhile, the OAS Officers’ Association has strongly condemned the incident and threatened to launch a state-wide pen-down strike if exemplary punishment is not meted out to all those involved in what it described as a “barbaric and gruesome attack” on a government officer performing his official duties.
