Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan, who was arrested in connection with the attack on Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Ratnakar Sahu, was released from Jharpada jail this afternoon after being granted bail. After Pradhan emerged from jail, his supporters welcomed him by bursting firecrackers and garlanding him.
Pradhan claimed that he had fallen prey to a conspiracy hatched by the opposition party. He stated that the OAS association had also been trapped in the conspiracy, and he had become a victim. However, he vowed to stand strong behind the party and the government, adding that the government’s welfare activities should continue.
Earlier, a local court granted bail to BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan, who was arrested in a case related to the physical assault of a senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office. The District and Sessions Court, Khurda, granted bail to Pradhan on a security of Rs 30,000. The court asked the government counsel to produce the telephonic conversation between Pradhan and Ratnakar Sahu, the victim OAS officer.
The court granted bail to Pradhan after the government counsel failed to produce evidence of the conversation in court, according to advocate Suresh Kumar Sahoo. Additional Commissioner of BMC, Ratnakar Sahu, was brutally attacked, dragged on the floor of the office, kicked in the face, and humiliated by a group of people, allegedly Pradhan’s supporters. The viral video of the officer’s assault sparked widespread outrage, forcing OAS officers to go on strike and demand the arrest of all accused persons, including Pradhan, who is accused of masterminding the attack on Sahu.
