CUTTACK: A Special Court here dealing with cases against MPs and MLAs on Friday started trial in the 13-year-old police officer assault case against Lok Sabha MP from Cuttack Bhartruhari Mahtab.
The trial started in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Deepankar Bal with the deposition of the first prosecution witness - sub-inspector Amitabh Mohapatra (now assistant commissioner of police) who is both informant and victim in the case.
Mahtab is seeking re-election from the Cuttack parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket. He was first elected in 1998 and has since retained the seat as the BJD candidate, the last being in 2019. Mahtab joined the saffron party after resigning from BJD a day after the charges were framed against him in the police officer assault case on March 21.
While Mohapatra was examined in court by the prosecution, defence counsel Saura Chandra Mohapatra also cross-examined him on Friday.
Assistant public prosecutor Afroz Ahmed said, “The trial proceedings were adjourned to April 30 after cross-examination by the defence remained incomplete.”
Earlier, the trial court had framed charges against Mahtab under sections 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The charges were framed based on a charge sheet submitted after an investigation on a complaint lodged by Mohapatra that Mahtab had assaulted him during a function on January 23, 2011.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had attended the function to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday at his birthplace at Cuttack.
The incident took place just after Patnaik entered the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Birthplace Museum Complex to inaugurate a special programme commemorating Netaji’s 114th birth anniversary.
Mahtab followed the chief minister into the complex, but when police did not allow his supporters to enter inside, he returned to the gate and allegedly assaulted sub-inspector Mohapatra, who was on duty. Mohapatra had lodged a complaint at the Dargha Bazar police station on the same day.