The Khurda District and Sessions Court has granted bail to senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Jagannath Pradhan, who was among the persons against whom high-profile assault case involving Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo case was registered. Pradhan, who was nabbed in June 29, 2025, was granted bail on a surety bond of 30,000 rupees and personal surety, his legal representative said on Wednesday.
The origins of the case lie in a violent act on June 30, 2025, when a group of people supposedly assaulted Sahoo since he was addressing a public grievance hearing at the BMC office. Police helmet camera footage of the assault, in which the senior officer is dragged and beaten, was released, and became viral, creating a feeling of widespread outrage. The Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) Association termed Pradhan as the man behind the attack and wanted him to be arrested immediately. This prompted their demonstrations and a statewide cease-work protest, which disrupted the administrative activities till Pradhan gave himself up at the Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) station on July 3, 2025.
Grave Accusations and First Reversal
After his arrest, the Commissionerate Police booked Pradhan under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including the laws enshrined in assaulting a public servant, causing grievous hurt, and obstructing government work. The court dismissed his earlier plea to grant bail and remanded him to a 14-day judicial custody in the Jharpada Special Jail.
Not to be denied, a legal battalion led by Pradhan appealed the case to the Khurda District and Sessions Court. On July 8, 2025, Tuesday, the court listened to the arguments, and considered the case diary. It was the failure by the prosecution to provide crucial evidence which included a phone conversation between Pradhan and Sahoo according to his advocate Suresh Kumar Sahoo which undermined their case. The next day the court granted him bail and this was a momentary reprieve to the BJP leader.
Political Fall-Out and Continued Tensions
The event has been a political hot spot in Odisha. Protests of the OAS Association also forefronted the safety of the public servants and opposition parties, including the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), blamed the BJP led government in protecting Pradhan prima facie. In its turn, the BJP suspended five of its party workers who were reportedly involved in the assault and insisted that the case was politicized to blacken the name of the party. The former corporator Pradhan, who lost the 2024 Bhubaneswar Central assembly election narrowly, has persistently denied that he, in person, had direct involvement, and maintained that the allegation was part of a wider conspiracy to tar him and his party.
With Pradhan out on walk, the question now arises of what the next step in the investigation will be, and when the bail of five other suspects will be heard, following on July 15, 2025. The case brings political accountability and protection of government officials to a new level in the state of Odisha as both sides put on guard awaiting the outcome.
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