Police sub-inspector lodges complaint against ruling BJD MP from Cuttack

A police sub-inspector on Sunday lodged a complaint against Cuttack’s BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab alleging that the latter assaulted him during a function.

The function to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday at his birth place at Cuttack, about 25 km west of Bhubaneswar, was attended by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The incident took place just after Patnaik arriverd at inside the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum Complex to inaugurate a special programme commemorating the Netaji’s 114th birth anniversary.

Mahtab followed the chief minister into the complex. However, when his supporters were not allowed inside by the police, he returned to the gate and allegedly assaulted sub-inspector Amitabh Mohapatra, who was on duty.

DCP Amitendra Nath Sinha admitted that the sub-inspector had lodged a complaint in the police station against the MP. “A case has been registered and we have started an investigation into the matter,” he said.

Mahtab was not available for comment. Son of former Orissa chief minister Harekrishna Mahtab, Mahtab was first
elected to the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 for the first time from Cuttack. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999, 2004 and 2009. He is also the editor of a leading Oriya daily, the Prajatantr.