Police on Monday arrested the son of a BJD legislator and former minister along with his friends for thrashing a marketing executive of a car showroom in full public glare at a crowded junction of the City on Monday evening.
Pratyut Behera, son of former Woman and Child Development Minister Anjali Behera, and his four friends chased Subhendra Mishra in their car before catching hold of him at the Acharya Vihar Square where they roughed him up.
The incident occurred at about 7.30 pm when Mishra was returning after meeting a client at Unit II area. Police said, he was driving a demo car of the showroom he works for. Near the OCAC office, Mishra applied brakes after a biker overtook him. The sudden application of brake by Mishra surprised Pratyut whose car hit the rear end of the latter’s
vehicle.
The former minister’s son and his friends flew into a rage and hurled abuses at Mishra for applying sudden brake and no amount of reasoning could pacify them. The drunk youths then chased Mishra who ran towards Acharya Vihar Square where the group held him and rained blows on him.
Following a complaint, Sahid Nagar Police arrested the five, including Pratyut. About seven months back, the former Minister’s son was involved in another such incident under Nayapalli police limits. Anjali Behera was dropped from the Naveen Patnaik Cabinet in June for taking part in the unsuccessful coup attempt by Pyarimohan Mohapatra.