ROURKELA: A BJP leader was arrested on Wednesday on charges of harassing and misbehaving with employees of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC).
The accused, Navin Gupta, is also an RTI activist and reportedly used to visit the RMC office in Rourkela’s Udit Nagar frequently. He was arrested after five RMC staff lodged a complaint against him.
Sources said when Gupta visited the RMC office on Tuesday afternoon, he had a heated exchange with a security guard. During the altercation, the accused was also reportedly assaulted by several employees of the civic body, leading to a commotion.
Soon after the incident, Gupta lodged a complaint in Udit Nagar police station. He stated that he had gone to meet RMC’s public information officer Asit Patnaik, regarding a pending RTI query but did not receive a response. When he attempted to meet RMC commissioner Deenah Dastageer, he was made to wait for a long time and a security guard misbehaved with him. The situation escalated into an altercation, after which RMC staff reportedly assaulted him.
Gupta further alleged that despite filing an RTI application six months ago regarding the manpower strength of RMC and pursuing a first appeal, he had not received the requested information. He also claimed he was often denied access to the commissioner despite having appointments. Gupta claimed that he was being falsely implicated due to his allegations against several RMC officials.
However, the RMC staff filed a counter-complaint stating that Gupta was forcibly entering different sections of the office and repeatedly threatening and harassing the employees on various pretexts since the past three months. They demanded a safe and secure working environment and restrictions on the entry of alleged anti-social elements, warning of agitation if their concerns were not addressed.
IIC of Udit Nagar police station Gyanendra Sahu said five separate cases have been registered against Gupta under various charges following the complaint by RMC staff. Besides, a case has been registered based on the accused’s complaint. He said Gupta has four cases pending against him in different police stations of Rourkela.
Additional district magistrate of Rourkela and RMC commissioner Dastageer was not available for comments.
Gupta is reportedly the social media coordinator of BJP for the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Training Maha Abhiyan.
President of BJP’s Rourkela organisational district Purnima Kerketta acknowledged Gupta’s association with the party and said she would be able to comment on the matter after inquiry.