Samata Party member of Parliament Prabhunath Singh, against whom a Chapra district court in Biahr had issued an arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting a superintending engineer in his chamber, surrendered before the police on Saturday evening.

After taking a written reply from Singh to a 14-point question, the police granted him bail, police sources said.

In his first information report, superintending engineer of Chapra electrical circle Dinesh Rai said Singh and his supporters beat him mercilessly for erratic power supply in the region.

Rai tried to apprise Singh about the inadequate allocation of power, but the MP refused to listen. Rai suffered severe injuries to his head.

Singh in his explanation claimed he was present in the superintending engineer's chamber, but neither he nor any of his supporters assaulted him.

It was somebody from a group of people who were waiting for him who pushed the official towards the wall causing injuries to him. Singh said he should be made a witness in the incident and not the accused.

The FIR was lodged against Singh under Section 353 (creating obstruction in discharge of duty by a government servant) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of Chapra's statement.

The Power Engineering Service Association decided to completely disrupt power supply in Saran, Siwan and Gopalganj districts from Saturday morning to protest the attack, association secretary B L Yadav said.

Yadav also said the power supply to Maharajganj, Singh's parliamentary constituency, would not be restored unless the Speaker of the Lok Sabha annuls Singh's membership.

According to Yadav, allocation power is not in their hands and there was no need for Singh to take out his ire against Rai. "These politicians should ask the government as well as the Bihar State Electricity Board to increase power allocation to their respective regions," Yadav said.

The association will soon write separate letters to the Speaker of Lok Sabha, the President and prime minister to take necessary action against Singh who has obstructed a government employee from performing his duty, Yadav said.

Singh is known for his strong-arm tactics and is facing charges in several criminal cases.

This is not an isolated case of assault on engineers. At least half a dozen of them have faced the ire of politicians or locals in different parts of the state in this year.

With inputs from Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna