JAGATSINGHPUR : Leader of All Odisha Bhoi Samaja Bikash Parishad Sankar Das was arrested by police on Wednesday night for allegedly detaining collector Parul Patwari, during a stir staged by the activists of the outfit on Tuesday.
Sources said hundreds of activists from the outfit staged dharna in front of the collectorate to protest non-allocation of homestead land to numerous landless Scheduled Caste (SC) families in the district. Subsequently, they gathered near the statue of Ambedkar and vowed not to cast their votes in the upcoming elections until their demands were met.
After the demonstration, they attempted to meet the collector to submit their memorandum, addressed to the chief minister. However, the collector was in a hurry to leave as she had another programme. Since she did not receive their memorandum, the activists surrounded her, detaining her for some time.
Though the collector managed to leave the scene through an alternate route to avoid the mob, the activists submitted their memorandum to the ADM Jagatsingpur Anita Patra.
Basing on an FIR filed by Patwari’s security guard against Das and other activists, for illegally detaining the collector disrupting official work, police registered a case.
SDPO Rashmiranjan Sahu informed, “Das was arrested and produced in court for the illegally detaining the collector. The other accused persons will be arrested soon.”