BHUBANESWAR: In a shocking development to the Kunduli gangrape, the victim allegedly committed suicide on Monday afternoon.
The girl, a Class IX student of Sarispadar village in Koraput, had hung herself in her home. In a critical condition, she was rushed to Kunduli primary health care centre where she was proclaimed dead.
On October 10, the girl was returning home from Kunduli market when she was allegedly abducted and gangraped by four persons who she said were in uniform.
The allegations that security personnel were perpetrators of the crime snowballed into a huge controversy. However, what led to an intense debate was Koraput Police’s report ruling out rape.
In fact, the Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) of State Police which was also probing into the matter had come to the same conclusion.
Following this, the Naveen Patnaik Government had ordered a judicial probe as well as in investigation by the Crime Branch into the incident on November 8. But no outcome came out of both investigations.
The victim had remained under treatment at Saheed Laxman Nayak Medica College and Hospital at Koraput for more than a month even as State Police continued the investigation.
However, on November 19, she was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital after her health condition deteriorated.
She was later admitted to the ICU of Medicine department and the SCB MCH formed an 11-member special team for her treatment which recommended counselling by clinical psychologists as she was in a traumatic state.
However, victim’s family, former MP Pradeep Majhi, Koraput MLA Krushna Chandra Sagaria and members of civil society had staged dharna on the hospital premises demanding her discharge from the hospital following which she had to be discharged.
As news of her suicide led to outrage, CM Naveen Patnaik expressed deep grief over the matter while opposition political parties have mounted pressure for a CBI probe into the matter.
Jeypore MLA and Congress chief whip Tara Prasad Bahinipati slammed the Crime Branch for failing to investigate into the matter properly and said only a CBI probe can unravel the whole truth.