KENDRAPARA: Jamboo Marine police on Monday arrested two persons for allegedly trying to kidnap a couple of girls from near a government high school at Ramanagar village in a car.
Police said accused Tarun Dehuri (27) and Indrajit Pal (28) of Ramanagar tried to kidnap the two schoolgirls, both aged 13 years, on Friday.
The accused duo came in a car and asked the girls about the location of a villager. One of them suddenly sprayed chloroform on the face of the minors. After the girls became unconscious, the duo took them in their car. But on the way, one of the girls regained consciousness and raised an alarm. The accused panicked and threw the girls out of the moving car near a temple on the outskirts of Ramanagar village before fleeing in their vehicle. Both the minors suffered injuries in the incident, said police.
IIC of Jamboo Marine police station Somyaranjan Patnaik said the incident took place at around 9.30 am on Friday. The girls, both Class VII students, were going to their school when they were approached by the accused duo.
“After the incident, family members of the girls lodged a complaint with police on Saturday. Acting on the complaint, we registered a case and arrested the accused. The car used in the crime, a bottle of chloroform and other incriminating materials were seized from them,” said the IIC.
Police questioned the accused about the motive behind their kidnap bid. It is suspected that they tried to abduct the girls with an intention to sexually assault them. Patnaik said the girls were taken to Kendrapara district headquarters hospital for medical examination. The accused were booked under sections 137 (2), 142, 123, 296 and 115 (2) of BNS besides section 12 of the POCSO Act.
The accused were produced in court on Monday and remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected, the IIC added.