BHUBANESWAR: The Crime against Women and Children Wing (CAW&CW) of Crime Branch on Wednesday carried out searches to arrest suspended inspector Sujit Kumar Das, who is on the run from the last few days after the High Court withdrew interim protection on him in a rape case.
Das was serving as the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Sarankul police station in Nayagarh. A court in Nayagarh issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Das after he went into hiding.
The incident had occurred last year. The survivor, who has separated from her husband, had lodged a complaint of land dispute at the Sarankul police station last year when Das was the IIC.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Das sexually harassed her on the promise of providing her help in the land dispute case. She claimed that he even raped her in December last year. After the complainant confronted Das for his actions, he arrested her earlier in the year in an assault case. Currently, she is out on bail.
The woman had lodged a complaint against Das on June 17. The CAW&CW took over investigation of the case the next day. CAW&CW additional SP, Sujit Panda said Das had obtained interim protection from arrest from the Orissa High Court. “He had appeared before us for questioning when the interim protection was in force. However, after the High Court withdrew the interim protection on August 20, Das went absconding to evade arrest,” said Panda.
CAW&CW officials said they carried out searches at the residences of his relatives in the city on the day. They had even carried out searches at his house in Jajpur’s Bari locality about two days back. All efforts are being made to trace and arrest him, said the officials. Das was suspended on June 22 after the allegations against him surfaced.
