JAGATSINGHPUR: Tirtol police on Monday arrested seven BJD workers belonging to different places under Niali police limits and produced them in court in connection with Sunday’s Tirtol police station ransacking incident.
Police also registered a case against Niali MLA Pramod Mallick for his alleged involvement in vandalising the police station.
On Sunday, a few hours before the IOCL refinery was to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP activists who were taking out a motorcycle rally and raising ‘Modi Zindabad’ slogans were stopped by the BJD supporters leading to a clash between them.
The supporters of the two parties attacked each other, damaged vehicles, burnt posters and display boards. At least 30 party workers were injured in the clash.
The Tirtol police station bore the brunt as BJD supporters allegedly ransacked it following an attack on Niali MLA.
The BJP workers who accused BJD of using its machinery to stop them from proceeding to Paradip gave vent to their frustration when they spotted legislator Mallick who was also headed to the function. When the MLA tried to reason with them, he was thrashed by BJP workers who also damaged his vehicle.
Irate BJD workers then targeted the Tirtol police station and ransacked it on the grounds that police did not come to the MLA’s rescue.
ASI of Tirtol police station Laxman Sethy has registered a case against the Niali MLA and 30 BJD supporters for their alleged involvement in vandalising the police station.
On the other hand, another a BJD worker of Cuttack D Nayak lodged an FIR against BJP workers for attacking their partymen and ransacking the vehicles on Sunday. Tirtol police has registered two cases in connection with the violence.
A platoon of police force has been deployed in Tirtol to avert the tension from flaring up.