Bolangir: An Odisha legislator, who forced a Junior Engineer of Public Works Department (PWD) to do sit-ups as punishment for alleged poor quality of road construction in his constituency last month, was sent to jail today.
Patnagarh MLA Saroj Meher has been sent to judicial custody after the ADJ Court rejected his bail plea in connection with the case.
Earlier, the Odisha police arrested the legislator from a hotel in Nuapada and brought him to Bolangir for interrogation.
Meher was produced before Patnagarh ADJ court, which rejected his bail plea and sent him to Bolangir sub-jail.
The newly-elected lawmaker on June 5 allegedly humiliated a PWD engineer from a tribal community by forcing him to do sit-ups in public.
The incident was strongly condemned from various quarters.
Bolangir Collector Arindam Dakua had ordered an enquiry into the incident.
The MLA was booked under different sections of the IPC based on the FIR filed by the engineer’s wife, sources said.