Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officers have called off a 'mass leave' protest they announced condemning the assault on Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ratnakar Sahoo in office premises.
The Odisha Administrative Service Association condemned the attack by miscreants on Ratnakar Sahoo during a grievance hearing in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office premises on Monday. Visuals of the incident show miscreants assaulting and kicking Sahoo on the premises of the government building. Odisha police have so far arrested three persons in connection with the attack. Five to six people led by Bharatiya Janata Party corporator Jeevan Raut allegedly attacked Sahoo.
I am utterly shocked seeing this video.
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) June 30, 2025
Today, Shri Ratnakar Sahoo, OAS Additional Commissioner, BMC, a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary was dragged from his office and brutally kicked and assaulted in front of a BJP Corporator, allegedly linked to a defeated… pic.twitter.com/yf7M3dLt9C
The officers's association condemned the attack and said they have decided to go on mass leave from July 1. In a letter to district bodies of the association, its president Jyoti Ranjan Mishra said, "This is to formally inform you that the Odisha Administrative Service Association has unanimously resolved to proceed on a mass leave with effect from 1st July, 2025, in protest against the appalling and deplorable attack on the Additional Commissioner BMC, which occurred in broad daylight within official premises."
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The BMC officer was allegedly attacked by miscreants for mistreating BJP leader Jagannath Pradhan. "While I was conducting a grievance hearing around 11.30 am, five to six people, including BMC corporator Jeevan Raut, barged into my chamber. As soon as he entered the chamber, the corporator asked me if I had misbehaved with Jag bhai (Jagannath Pradhan). But when I refused, the people accompanying him misbehaved and manhandled me. They dragged me out of my office, thrashed me and were trying to forcibly take me to their vehicle," Sahoo told NDTV.
Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik condemned the attack and demanded stern action against the assaulters. Patnaik asked, "If a senior officer is not safe in his own office, then what law and order will ordinary citizens expect from the government."
However, the association has now called off the protest after Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi assured them at stern action will be taken against perpetrators. "The CM has assured the association that the culprits and the perpetrators behind the scene, however powerful they may be, shall be strictly punished as per stringent provisions of law," they said.
