It's not a good idea to take panga with a wrestler - an RJD legislator learnt that the hard way on Thursday.

Arun Yadav, MLA from Sandesh in Bhojpur district, tried to teach a wrestler a few tricks of the sport and the wrestler grappled him to the ground - according to people present at the event, though the debutant MLA has denied such a thing happened.

The Bhojpur district administration had organised a sports competition on Thursday at Veer Kunwar Singh stadium in Ara - around 55km west of Patna - to mark the foundation day of the district, and Arun was the chief guest.

During the wrestling segment of the competition, Arun - who has a reputation as a strongman - was not happy with the performance of Raj Kumar Paswan, one the participants.

"The MLA was watching the match and suddenly he entered the ring and started giving tips to Paswan," said Jogeshwar Prasad, president of the Bhojpur Khusti Association who was the referee of that eventful match. "The young wrestler got charged up and flung him down in the ring. The MLA also lost his cool and said that he would wrestle with Paswan but as referee I stopped the match."

Jogeshwar added: "People watching the match started shouting that an MLA has been hurt. I asked Paswan to apologise and he said sorry to the MLA. However, the MLA's bodyguard started getting aggressive with the wrester. Somehow, the situation was brought under control after I requested the MLA to stop his bodyguard."

After the incident, the rest of the wrestling matches were cancelled, though the kabaddi, kho kho and archery events were conducted as per schedule. Bhojpur district magistrate Birendra Prasad Yadav and superintendent of police Kshatranil Singh were also present at the stadium. Paswan, a farmer's son who lives in Narayanpur village of Bihiya block, could not be contacted for comment.

"Paswan has left Ara and gone to Mughalsarai; I do not have his contact number," said Jogeshwar. "He comes from a poor family. I don't think he has left the city out of fear."

The MLA denied the wrestler had flung him to the ground - he said it was a "friendly gesture".

"I entered the ring to give him tips and I was showing him how to put down the opponent," Arun, 50, told The Telegraph. "For the sake of increasing the TRP of news you are making news out of nothing! Even my bodyguard did not do anything to the wrestler."

Arun also trashed speculation that Paswan had left the city out of fear.

"It is all rubbish! I am a very gentle man. Why would anyone leave the city out of fear of me? In fact, I encourage the young wrestler because I was also a wrestler in my young days and now also I wrestle regularly during Govardhan puja, which is a big festival for Yadavs. We organise a wrestling competition," Arun said.