Cuttack: Tangi police arrested the driver of a truck that had hit the SUV of Salipur MLA Prakash Behera on Safa-Sapanpur road January 25.
Behera’s driver had lodged a complaint in this regard with police and claimed that there was an attempt to kill the legislator by crashing his vehicle with the ‘marauding’ truck.
According to the complaint, the incident occurred in the afternoon of January 25 when the legislator was travelling to Sapanpur. The speeding truck hit Behera’s SUV even though the latter was parked on the left side of the road.
“I had parked the SUV on the left side of the road after spotting the speeding truck. But, the driver deliberately collided the truck with our SUV and tried to flee the spot,” said Behera’s driver Abdul Rahim.
According to the complainant, Behera and his personal security officer had a narrow escape, but, the SUV was badly damaged in the incident. Soon, some locals gathered at the spot and captured the truck driver. “The driver had claimed that some influential persons are behind him. He even asserted that he has no fear in facing legal action,” said the complaint.
Behera, meanwhile, claimed that some people had threatened him over phone during last year’s panchayat elections. “I had then raised the issue with the Cuttack rural superintendent of police. But, they could not trace the people behind the threat calls. Now, the police should initiate a through probe and take appropriate action,” he added.
Tangi police in-charge Balabhadra Mishra said preliminary investigation has confirmed that the truck driver had hit the MLA’s SUV deliberately. “Our probe is on. Soon the mystery behind the incident will be solved,” he added.
Cuttack rural superintendent of police Madhab Chandra Sahu said they have registered a case in this regard and produced the accused Jitendra Pradhan in a local court.
PNN