By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : A building contractor was arrested by police Friday for his role in the December 14 clashes near the Posco steel plant site in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district in which one person was killed.
With Bapi Sarkhel’s arrest, the total number of persons arrested in the clashes is now six.
“We arrested him (Bapi Sarkhel) from Raipur in Chhattisgarh,” District Superintendent of Police S.S.D.D. Singh told IANS.
The others who were arrested earlier include Jayant Biswal, Lalita Bhujabala, Sanatan Mohanty, Loknath Swain and Chandrasekhar Patanaik. They were reportedly aides of Bapi Sarkhel.
Police have registered two cases against Sarkhel after allegations surfaced that he fomented trouble at the site and used goons to attack anti-Posco villagers.
The clashes erupted after hundreds of villagers did not allow workers to carry out the construction of a road in the region.
The 10-km coastal road will help authorities speed up work for the South Korean steel major Posco’s $12 billion project for a composite steel and power plant, the country’s largest foreign direct investment.