A case has been registered against Union minister Bishweswar Tudu for allegedly beating up two Odisha government officials, of whom one suffered a fracture.

The incident took place at Baripada in Mayurbhanj district on Friday afternoon and the FIR was lodged late evening. Both the officials were admitted to the Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital, Baripada. Tudu, the minister of state for jal shakti and tribal affairs, is the sitting BJP MP from Mayurbhanj.

Mayurbhanj superintendent of police (SP) R.D. Khilari told The Telegraph: “Following the FIR, a case has been registered against the minister and the investigation is on.”

The case was lodged under different sections of the IPC for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, wrongful restraint, an obscene act in any public place and criminal intimidation.

The two officials have been identified as district planning board’s assistant director Debasis Mohapatra and deputy director Aswini Kumar Mallick. Mohapatra sustained a fracture in his left hand. Police registered an FIR on the complaint of Mallick.

According to the FIR, Mallick and Mohapatra visited Tudu’s office at 1.15pm and after 15 minutes the minister came and abused them in obscene language and threatened them with consequences. Thereafter, Tudu asked one of his party workers to close the shutters of the office and then assaulted them using a plastic chair. Mohapatra’s left hand was fractured and Mallick injured a finger.

Mallick told reporters: “The minister had asked us to come to his office for a review meeting on the MPLAD fund on Thursday. First, we declined to go to the district party office as the election code of conduct is on for the panchayat polls. But after the minister chided us, we decided to meet him. The personal assistant of the minister fixed the meeting at the party office at Takatpur on Friday. He also asked us not to come with any file and just meet the minister and leave the place,”

“Once we reached his office, the minister started asking questions about the MPLAD and the district planning board. While we were answering the queries of the minister, the minister suddenly flared up and threw plastic chairs on us. Our staff Debasis Mohapatra’s hand got fractured. Later the minister left the place,” said Mallick.

Mohapatra said: “I had never expected that I would encounter such a situation.”

The minister denied the charges.

.“Yes, there was a meeting about the MPLAD fund. But nothing of this sort happened,” Tudu said.