FIR Against BJP MLA For ‘Obstructing & Abusing’ GST Officials During Raid At Odisha’s Paikamal

Bargarh: The raid politics in bypoll-bound Padampur took a new turn on Tuesday after a GST official lodged an FIR against BJP MLA from Sundargarh Kusum Tete for allegedly assaulting, abusing and obstructing a public servant from discharging duty at at Paikmal in Odisha’s Bargarh district the previous day.

In the complaint, Jharsuguda State Tax Officer (CT and GST Enforcement Unit) Ashish Kumar Dash said that he along with a team, comprising Additional State Tax Officer (CT and GST, Circle-1, Sambalpur) Sushanta Patel and Assistant State Tax Officer (Jharsuguda Circle) Sujata Mohanty, reached the house of  Gobardhan Agarwal at Paikmal for a search as authorised by the Joint Commissioner (CT and GST) , Enforcement Range Sambalpur.

On reaching the premises, the team members introduced themselves to Gobardhan’s wife Taramanidevi and issued a spot summon after assuring her of the presence of a lady GST officer and a lady constable throughout the raid.

While Taramanidevi did not give any written consent or sign any authorisation letter, the officials were allowed to enter the premises on verbal consent.

During the raid, the team questioned her on Gobardhan’s business and managed to seize 22 documents. Around 10.45 pm, Gobardhan’s son and the MLA along with a group of people barged in and started sloganeering on the raid premises.

Gobardhan too suddenly appeared. The crowd then began to heckle the GST team and managed to forcibly take away the seized documents. They instigated Taramanidevi not to sign any papers.

While Paikmal police reached the spot and helped to evict them from the premises with additional force, the seized documents could not be recovered, the complaintant added.

Following the I-T department raid on three businessmen close to the ruling BJD,the GST department of the state government cracked down on BJP-supported traders, including Padampur town unit of BJP president Sunil Agarwa, in what some saw as a tit-for-tat raid, on Monday.