The girl, who was on her way to her native village from Bhubaneswar, had got down at Nimapara bus stand to have snacks. While she was having snacks, the bus left. While the girl was waiting for another bus, dismissed police constable Jitendra Sethi came in a car along with 3 others and offered to drop her at her village.
“Sethi showed his police ID card to gain the victim’s trust. When the girl saw three others in the car, she was scared for her safety, but Sethi promised her to drop her home. However, instead of taking her to her village, the four took her to the police quarter of Sethi where he and one of his aides raped her,” said Puri SP Umashankar Dash.
Dash said all the accused including Sethi have been arrested and are being interrogated now.
The dismissed police constable’s wife, also a constable, had left for duty leaving their son when the girl was raped in that quarter. Two of the accused then locked up the room where the constable’s son was sleeping and kept guard outside the next room where Sethi and another accused sexually assaulted the girl. They then locked up the girl in the room and left. Sethi’s neighbours heard her cries for help and broke through the door and freed her.
Police said the victim, during the sexual assault, managed to record the faces of her assailants in her phone camera. She also caught hold of the identity card of Jitendra Sethi which helped revealed his identity of the dismissed.
Police said a case under section 376(g) of IPC and several sections of Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act have been lodged against the accused at Kumbharpada police station of Puri. The case has been red-flagged and strict action would be taken against all the accused, said the police.
Sethi was reportedly dismissed from service by then Puri SP Sarthak Sarangi over his criminal acts. He was once arrested for trying to sexually assault his mother-in-law and even attempted to kill his second wife by setting her on fire.
Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Pradipta Naik demanded a CBI probe into the incident. He also demanded the resignation of CM Naveen Patnaik over the incident.
Protesting the incident, Congress workers in Odisha on Monday night took out a candlelight rally from party headquarters in Bhubaneswar to Naveen Niwas.
The incident came on the day when rising crimes against women rocked both Houses of the Parliament. The lawmakers debated stringent punishments for rapists like castration, public execution and hanging within weeks of the incident.
The members also raised the gang-rape and murder of a Hyderabad veterinarian last week. The 26-year-old was allegedly raped and killed by four men and her charred body was found last Thursday under a culvert near Shadnagar town on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The men had been sent to a 14-day judicial custody on Saturday and Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao asked officials on Sunday to ensure that the accused are tried in a fast track court.
Prasanta Patnaik