ROURKELA: A youth Rajesh Mohapatra was arrested on Saturday by Sector-7 police for raping a 26-year-old girl, recording a video of the incident and blackmailing her. Social activist Minati Debata, who helped the victim file a police complaint, said the victim stays with her working mother. Her father had passed away.
Eyeing the victim’s property, the accused, along with his family members in August 2018 had sent a marriage proposal to her. The victim’s mother had set aside around Rs 3 lakh for her marriage but the accused demanded Rs 10 lakh as dowry.
Minati said the victim’s mother found that the youth had lied about himself and his family. She then rejected the marriage proposal. In May, 2019 the accused forcibly entered victim’s house when she was alone and raped her while his friend, yet to be identified, recorded a video of the incident.
She said since then the accused had on several occasions molested the victim and also forced her to marry him. The victim did not speak up as she feared her mother’s health will worsen upon hearing the news.
However, she later mustered courage and filed a complaint against Rajesh.