Bhubaneswar: It was a one-sentence suspension order and no reason was cited for the action taken by the regional party against BJD’s Chilika MLA Prashant Jagdev.
This came hours after Balugaon Police registered a case against him for allegedly assaulting Balugaon Nagar BJP president Niranjan Sethi. “Prasant Jagdev pounced on me like a goonda (ruffian),” Sethi told reporters.
A video of the incident has also gone viral.
The legislator has courted controversies over his strong-arm tactics and been in news in the past for his frequent run-ins at public places.
CASES
According to the affidavit filed by Jagdev in the nomination papers for the 2019 Assembly election, 10 criminal cases are pending against him in Boudh, Khurda and Bhubaneswar with a majority being lodged between 2014 and 2019 in Begunia when he was the local MLA.
In August last year, a junior engineer, Jagabandhu Sahu, with Chilika Development Authority (CDA) had filed a complaint with the CEO, alleging that Jagdev misbehaved with him in an inebriated state and threatened to thrash him by local goons after an altercation.
In December 2018, Jagdev allegedly threatened former Begunia sarpanch Naba Swain at the block office in the presence of district officials.
In November 2016, he allegedly flung a kerosene lantern and abused the then Bolagada Tehsildar Niharika Nayak, an OAS officer, when she was mapping a plot of land.
In July 2016, the BJD legislator had allegedly thrashed some BJP supporters for showing black flags to the then food supply minister Sanjay Kumar Das Burma in Boudh district.
CHARGES
Assault or use of criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman’s modesty, voluntarily causing hurt to prevent public servants from duty, causing grievous hurt and criminal intimidation of SC, ST and railway cases.
Jagdev, however, continued to find favour with the party and he was shifted to Chilika from Begunia assembly constituency in the 2019 elections.
