ROURKELA: Rourkela police on Tuesday obtained a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against suspended BJP leader Prakash Paswan over his alleged involvement in the Circuit House controversy.
DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai said the Panposh SDJM court issued the NBW against Paswan on the day. Additionally, four police teams are on the lookout for him in Jharkhand, Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
Paswan is the alleged mastermind in harbouring criminals and providing them safe haven on the government-managed Circuit House at Panposh using his political clout.
The 35-year-old was Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh BJP MP Jual Oram’s representative to the Rourkela Municipal Corporation, a fact the veteran leader has admitted.
Police said Paswan was a known history-sheeter with 17 criminal cases against him. But such was his clout that he was allotted a flat by the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) for running his NGO. He had also illegally constructed an office structure at another place.
On Monday, police and Rourkela forest division authorities had inspected the office of Paswan along the foothills of Durgapur. It is being alleged that Paswan had taken the land on the pretext of setting up a community centre, but illegally constructed a structure for office use.
Rourkela DFO Ravi Meena said an inquiry has been initiated to ascertain if the land was allotted or encroached. The DIG said police are also weighing the option to dismantle Paswan’s office if found illegal.
Meanwhile, the RSP on Monday reclaimed possession of an executive flat B1 at Sector 21 which was allotted to Paswan in August 2025. A senior RSP official said eviction notice was served to Paswan a fortnight ago for violation of the sub-lease condition. Paswan had been illegally carrying out extension works leading to cancellation of the allotment. He had availed the flat in the name of his NGO ‘Being Humane’, he said.
Serving as a state executive member of BJP Yuva Morcha before his suspension, Paswan landed in trouble after RN Pali police arrested two criminals with firearms and live bullets from the Circuit House in the wee hours of August 15. Subsequently, five others criminals with firearms were arrested.
During investigation, it was established that Paswan had enabled access of the Circuit House to the criminals using his political clout. The criminals were in possession of two rooms of the state-managed guesthouse for 23 days.
Over the past two years, Paswan had been seen exerting immense political clout and rubbing shoulders with top officials of the Sundargarh district administration.
After his involvement in the Circuit House controversy came to light, the Odisha BJP suspended Paswan from the party on August 20.