A group of men on Monday assaulted a municipal official in Bhubaneswar and dragged him out of his office during a weekly grievance hearing session, The Indian Express reported.

The official, Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, alleged in his police complaint that six to seven unknown men entered his chamber and aggressively asked him if he had spoken to a Bharatiya Janata Party leader named Jagannath Pradhan.

Sahoo told the men he had spoken to Pradhan on the phone earlier in the day. He alleged that the group then tried to drag him by his shirt collar into a vehicle, demanding that he go to the BJP leader and apologise, The New Indian Express reported. It was not clear what the attackers wanted the official to apologise for.

“They beat me brutally in full public view with an attempt to murder, in the presence of public representatives, i.e. corporators of the BMC, BMC officers, staff, and citizens,” Sahoo said in his complaint, according to The Indian Express. He alleged that the assailants also snatched his mobile phone and uploaded scandalous content on his WhatsApp status.

Bhubaneshwar Municipal Corporation officials held a day-long protest at the corporation office, seeking that the culprits be immediately arrested.

Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil urged Police Commissioner S Dev Datta Singh to take stringent action against those involved. He said that the assault on a senior bureaucrat without provocation was demoralising.

“The officer was chairing grievance hearing on my behalf,” the municipal commissioner said, according to The New Indian Express.

The police have arrested three persons – a corporator named Jeevan Rout and his associates Rashmi Mahapatra and Debashis Pradhan. Rout had been arrested in January 2024 as well for allegedly attacking an assistant sub-inspector.

Pradhan said that the assault on Monday was unfortunate and that he knew two persons involved in the attack, The Indian Express reported. He said that the state’s BJP government would not shield anyone and action would be taken against all those involved.

Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik said on X that he was shocked on seeing the video of the attack. He urged Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to take exemplary action not just against the perpetrators, but also against the political leaders who allegedly orchestrated the attack.

“The people named by the officer in his FIR have behaved like criminals,” Patnaik said. “If a senior officer is not safe in his own office, then what law and order will ordinary citizens expect from the Government?”