ROURKELA: Youth BJD leader Prakash Paswan has landed in trouble after Plant Site police registered a case against him for heckling party candidate from Rourkela Assembly seat and Labour Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak inside a polling centre on Monday.
Prakash and his supporters reportedly heckled Sarada when the latter entered the polling centre housing seven booths at Gopabandhupali high school when voting was underway.
The ugly scene lasted for around 30 minutes before police escorted the BJD candidate out. Later, Sarada lodged a complaint in the police station in this regard. Basing on the complaint, police registered a case under sections 341, 323 , 171F, 504, 506, 294 and 34 of IPC.
Sarada said as a candidate, he is legally allowed to visit the polling booths. On the day of the incident, he went to Gopabandhupali high school to take stock of the polling process. When he entered the main gate of the polling centre, Prakash and his supporters surrounded him. They allegedly misbehaved with him and also raised defamatory slogans against the BJD and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The BJD candidate further said after waiting patiently, he came out of the polling centre and apprised the Rourkela SP about the incident. On the SP’s instruction, a sub-inspector of police escorted him inside the polling centre and he visited two booths where Prakash and his supporters again misbehaved with him. During the incident, around 400-500 voters were present and to avoid further escalation, he left the spot escorted by police. Sarada claimed the incident has tarnished his image.
Rourkela SP Brijesh Kumar Rai confirmed the registration of a case and said investigation is underway to verify the allegations of the complainant.
BJD spokesperson of Rourkela unit Jayant Mishra said Prakash was earlier removed from the post of BJD’s youth wing secretary but continues to be a party member. However, he is openly indulging in anti-party activities, Mishra claimed.