Senior Odisha officer dragged from office, brutally attacked in Bhubaneswar

An officer of the Odisha Administrative Service was brutally thrashed at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), evoking shocked reactions from officials and Opposition political parties here on Monday (June 30, 2025).

Soon after Ratnakar Sahoo, Additional Commissioner, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, attended a weekly grievance session at the Corporation building, he was dragged and beaten by a group of persons, said to be supporters of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who had unsuccessfully contested the Odisha Assembly election in 2024.

The officer was injured. He later filed a complaint at the local police station.

“The officer was dragged from his office and brutally kicked and assaulted in front of a BJP corporator, allegedly linked to a defeated BJP MLA candidate,” former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on social media platform X, adding, “What is more appalling is that this happened in broad daylight, in the heart of the capital city of Bhubaneswar, to a senior officer, while he was in his office hearing the grievances of people,” Mr. Patnaik said.

“I ask Chief Minister Mohan Majhi (@MohanMOdisha) Ji to take immediate and exemplary action against not only those who perpetrated but more importantly the political leaders who orchestrated and conspired this shameful attack,” the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president said.

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

“I only hope that Mr. Majhi directs immediate action to be taken to restore faith in his government and not allow this heinous act to go unpunished, like the assault on an officer by the ex-Governor’s son. The people of Odisha will not forgive this,” the former Odisha CM said.

In the evening, BJD corporators led by Mayor Sulochana Das held a protest along Janpath, a busy thoroughfare in Bhubaneswar. Vehicular movement along the road came to a grinding halt. Soon, other BJD leaders joined the protest, exerting pressure on the administration to take action. When the city police made preventive arrests of three persons linked to the attack, the situation returned to normalcy.