Bhubaneswar: The Additional District and Sessions Court in Khurda rejected the bail application of Chilika MLA and BJP candidate from Khurda Assembly seat Prasanta Kumar Jagadev in connection with EVM vandalism case.
Earlier in the day, the court heard the bail petition and reserved the judgement.
Senior lawyer Pitambar Acharya, who argued in favour of the MLA, said that his client, a sitting MLA, is innocent. Police arrested him like a criminal without even registering an FIR. There was no evidence against him at the time of his arrest, Acharya added.
The lawyer further told the court, “Prasanta Jagadev was made to sit on the floor at the police station and was also refused drinking water. Around 12.30, they woke up the magistrate and forwarded him to court instead of granting bail at the police station as per the Supreme Court order and CrPC provision in case of an offence less than seven years of sentence.”
Acharya along with 40 other advocates submitted their vakalatnama to represent the legislator in the court.
Jagadev was arrested was arrested for allegedly vandalising an EVM at a polling station in Khurda.
Prasanta Jagadev, the BJP MLA of Chilika, has been fielded this time from the Khurda assembly segment. The incident happened on June 25 at booth 114 in Bolagad block’s Kaunripatna in the Begunia assembly segment where he is registered as a voter.
Jagadev went to the booth along with his wife, but as the EVM malfunctioned, he had to wait for some time to cast his vote. Soon, a war of words broke out between him and the presiding officer, amid which he allegedly pulled the EVM from the table, as a result of which it fell and broke, officials said.
Later, the presiding officer lodged a complaint based on which he was arrested forwarded to court.
