Police later in night arrested as many as 12 members of the Sambalpur Bar Association over their alleged involvement in vandalism in the premises of the District Court here on Monday.

And on Tuesday, three more lawyers were picked up by police from Kacheri Chhak here and arrested.

The lawyers had allegedly resorted to vandalism inside the chamber of the District Judge. The lawyers were demanding establishment of a permanent Bench of the Orissa High Court in Sambalpur.

Nine of the arrested lawyers were forwarded to court and remanded to judicial custody after rejection of their bail pleas.

The number of arrests is likely to increase as police were examining CCTV footage of the court premises to identify others involved in the offence. Three cases have been registered at the Sambalpur Town police station in connection with the incident.

Moreover, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been clamped at Kacheri Chhak, where the lawyers had staged the agitation, to avoid any further untoward incident. Action would be taken against anyone entering the prohibited area, police said.

Meanwhile on Monday night, the Bar Council of India suspended the ‘licences of practice’ of as many as 43 agitating lawyers for a period of 18 months. It also suspended all members of the District Bar Association till further orders.

The lawyers allegedly indulged in using unparliamentary words for judges, pushing and pulling police officials and obstructing the court proceedings.