Cuttack, Aug. 9: Police have issued notices to five BJD councillors for allegedly manhandling one of their Congress counterparts during the civic meeting held on July 29.

Based on a complaint filed by Congress councillor from ward No. 18 Arun Sethi, the notices were served on Itishree Behera, Ramzan Khan, Bikash Behera, Anil Niladri and Dayanidhi Nayak.

Another BJD councillor allegedly involved in the case, Bijay Sahoo, was yet to be served a notice as he was out of the city.

The Congress alleged that their councillors had been attacked by the BJD counterparts on July 29 during a discussion on the dengue outbreak at the council meeting of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

"We have already issued notices under Section 42 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and the BJD councillors have been asked to appear in person before Purighat police by August 14," said assistant commissioner of police Anil Mishra.

Mishra said BJD councillors' statements would be recorded and examined.

Congress councillors alleged that the BJD members assaulted them after they had raised the issue of poor civic management which allegedly caused the dengue outbreak in the city.

BJD councillors, on the other hand, claimed that the incident occurred only after Congress councillor Arun Sethi had misbehaved with Itishree Behera, a woman councillor of their party.

Itishree had lodged a complaint against Arun Sethi while a separate FIR was also registered by the BJD councillors against a few Congress councillors.

Police sources said that notices would also be issued to Arun Sethi and other Congress councillors based on the complaint filed by the BJD councillors.

Both the BJD and the Congress are now at loggerheads and blaming each other for the incident.

Though mayor Minakshee Behera had convened an all-party meeting on August 2 to mutually resolve the issue, the Congress had boycotted it alleging that the move was a mere eyewash by the BJD and an effort to save their members. "We have received the notice to appear before the officials of Purighat police station, and we will co-operate in police investigation," said BJD councillor of ward No. 16 Ramzan Khan.