Paradip: Eight persons, including a Sarpanch candidate, have been detained by Tirtol police for attacking and damaging former minister Damodar Rout’s vehicle during campaigning in Sailo panchayat under Kujanga block in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday.
The detention came after a complaint was filed by Rout with Kujanga BDO-cum-Block Election Officer. Rout alleged that he was crossing Sailo area on Sunday evening when some rival groups, who were engaged in a scuffle, misbehaved with him and also damaged his vehicle.
The BDO lodged a complaint at Tirtol police station. The detained Sarpanch candidate has been identified as Saroj Sethi.
Rout told mediapersons that he saw a political procession coming from the opposite direction and asked his driver to park the car along the road but Sethi and some of his men came over to meet him and started abusing him. Some of the associates of Sethi also damaged his car.
