The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator Saroj Meher was arrested on Monday for allegedly forcing a government official to do sit-ups over complaints of poor quality of roads earlier this month.
Patnagarh MLA Meher’s arrest comes nearly three weeks after he forced Public Works Department (PWD) engineer Jaykant Sabar to do sit-ups.
A video clip of Meher forcing the engineer to do 100 sit-ups in public had gone viral on social media.
The engineer was rescued by police from Khariar area of Nuapada district on June 6, following a complaint lodged by his wife.
Sabar had alleged that the executive engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) had slapped him in public on the order of the Patnagarh MLA.
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Speaking to the media, Sabar had alleged that the executive engineer of the PWD had slapped him in public on the order of the Patnagarh MLA.
The MLA had, however, later apolgised for the incident. "The locals were angry over poor road construction work in their area and demanded action against the official. As the situation was out of my control, I had to ask the official to do sit-ups," the MLA had said.
Several private organisations had staged protests in Odisha, demanding immediate arrest of Meher after the incident.
(With inputs from Agencies)
