was assaulted in front of the police, according to Pradeep Panigrahy, a BJP spokesman

Senior BJP leader Pradeep Panigrahy, the party’s nominee for the Berhampur Lok Sabha, said on Monday that on May 13, during the first round of voting in Odisha, he was assaulted by Independent candidate for the Berhampur Assembly seat, Siva Shankar Dash, in front of police officers.

After being hospitalized to Berhampur’s MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Panigrahy was transferred to the nation’s capital’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). “It is a matter of concern that he was attacked in the presence of police personnel despite being an MP candidate and a sitting MLA,” Panigrahy said the journalists after being released from AIIMS that day. I had previously been the object of police harassment. This event is the third of its kind, he said.

Panigrahy recalled that on August 15, 2022, while he was traveling to Rangeilunda Block for a flag-hooping event, he was attacked in front of the police. On August 23, of the previous year, he was scheduled to attend an event in Ganjam district organized by VK Pandian, who was Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary at the time.

“I was assaulted in front of five to seven police officers, including the IIC of the Gosani Nuagaon police station, during the current event. Despite the fact that no police officers approached me after the incident, they let the assailant to go safely, according to Panigrahy.

In response to the recent killing of a BJP employee in Khallikote, he also turned his weapons on the BJD administration. There is a complete breakdown of law and order in this place, according to Panigrahy. Police added that an investigation is ongoing in the meanwhile.