Balangir, Nov. 11: Balangir town police has registered a case against Congress legislator of Kantabanjhi, Santokh Singh Saluja, for allegedly verbally abusing the deputy director of district panning and statistical department, Bata Kishore Parua, during a meeting of the district planningboard.

The state’s revenue minister, Surya Narayan Patro, was present at the meeting, which was held earlier this month.

Parua had made written complaints to the district collector Sailendra Narayan Dey and superintendent of police Awinash Kumar about the incident and had sought justice. The district collector had asked the police to look into the matter, and act accordingly. Ten days after the incident, the police registered a case against Saluja.

Police sources said Parua, the deputy director of district planning and statistic department claimed in his complaint that the legislator had verbally abused him in the presence of Patro and other district-level officers of Balangir.

“The MLA abused me verbally using obscene language in the presence of the revenue minister and several other officials and leaders. He even made remarks about the tribal community to which I belong,” the complaint said. The police complaint further said that the MLA had earlier threatened the officer over phone.

Inspector in-charge of Balangir town police station Bimalendu Satapathy said the police had registered cases against the MLA for abusing the officer as well as making anti-caste remarks against him.

“We are investigating into the matter,” Satapathy said.