Bhubaneswar: Five tourists were detained for allegedly overtaking the car of Union Minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi on NH-16 in Odisha’s Balasore district on Sunday.
They were later released after signing an undertaking that they wouldn’t repeat the mistake again.
According to sources, the incident took place when one Santosh Shaw, his wife, brother and two children were returning to Kolkata from Panchalingeswar in Balasore in two vehicles.
“While travelling on NH-16, we heard a siren near Basta and thinking it to be an ambulance, we let it pass. However, later we realised it to be a minister’s car with a pilot vehicle escorting it. After some time, the pilot car went took a ‘kachha’ road and it was then that we overtook them,” said Shaw told The India Today.
The pilot car of the minister followed the two vehicles for 20 km till Lakhanath toll gate in Jaleswar. The tourists were then brought to Basta police station, where they were detained for five hours.
Notably, Sarangi was in Basta to attend a review meeting.
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