JAJPUR: In yet another shocking incident of crime against women in State, four persons including a contractual employee of the Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) were on Monday arrested for allegedly raping a minor tribal girl at Sukinda Chromites valley in Jajpur district. The crime took place late on Sunday night. The accused are Santosh Prusty (31), Rabi Naik (20), Umesh Chandra Mahanta (21) and Satyabrata Behera (20). Santosh works as a cook in the Kaliapani unit of Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) on a contractual basis.
Police said the 17-year-old girl of Duburi, a Plus Two student, had gone to Brahmanipal with her male classmate to collect scholarship money from a private organisation on Sunday. The duo came back to Duburi and boarded a bus to Kaliapani. They reached there at around 9 pm and after having some food at a fast food centre, walked around four km to reach Kalarangi village at Sukinda Chromites valley.As they were walking, the four accused on two motorcycles waylaid them near an unused mine of Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). While two overpowered the boy and snatched his mobile phone, the others allegedly took the girl to an isolated place and raped her taking turns. The other two also joined them and raped the girl.
When the accused were hatching a plan to take the victim to a house in nearby Malhara Sahi, the girl managed to escape from their clutches leaving her mobile phone and bag on the spot. Running for her life, she barged into a nearby house belonging to a woman home guard and requested her to let her stay. The home guard informed Kaliapani police following which a team rushed to the spot and rescued her.
Late in the night, the girl lodged a complaint, basing on which a case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and POCSO Act. Jajpur SP Rahul PR said, “We immediately conducted raids and detained some suspects the same night. Later, all the four accused were arrested on Monday. Their medical medical examination was also conducted.” The SP said neither OSIF nor any police personnel was involved in the crime. “Santosh works as cook in the local OSIF unit on contract basis. He is no way connected with the OSIF,” he said. The accused were produced in court and remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.