Bhubaneswar: Suspended BJD MLA from Chilika Prasanta Kumar Jagadev has often courted controversies for his strong-arm tactics.
Apart from injuring 18 which include 10 policemen, 2 journalists and 6 members of the general public by allegedly ploughing his car into a crowd at Banpur today, Jagadev had hogged headlines earlier at least on several occasions earlier for similar strong-arm feats.
The Chilika MLA had in September last year allegedly thrashed a BJP leader Niranjan Sethi when he had protested over delays in the distribution of ration cards under the National Food Security Act and assistance for the construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in Balugaon.
He had also allegedly beaten up a journalist and snatched his mobile phone camera for recording the incident.
Following the incident, BJD president Naveen Patnaik suspended him from the party with immediate effect and later he was removed from the post of Khordha district’s planning committee.
In August 2020, Jagadev was accused of misbehaving with a Junior Engineer of Chilika Development Authority (CDA) when he stayed at the authority’s Scientist Hostel.
The MLA was allegedly inebriated when he threatened engineer Jagabandhu Sahu after an altercation.
In December 2018, Jagadev had allegedly threatened former Begunia Sarpanch Naba Swain at the block office in the presence of district officials.
Earlier in November 2016, he allegedly flung a kerosene lantern at the woman tahsildar of Bolagarh when she was mapping a plot of land.
In July 2016, Jagadev and his supporters were accused of assaulting BJP activists over showing black flags to the then Food Supply Minister Sanjay Kumar Das Burma in Boudh district.
