KENDRAPARA: Pattamundai police on Sunday arrested a beauty parlour owner for allegedly raping a 22-year-old Dalit woman and blackmailing her with her private photos.The accused is 35-year-old Pratap Sahoo of Nilikanta village.
Pattamundai IIC Ranjit Mohanty said the accused became friends with the victim a few months back and provided her a job in his beauty parlour at Chaudakulat. Last month, he reportedly offered her a cold drink laced with sedatives inside the parlour. When she fell unconscious, Sahoo raped her and captured her nude pictures and videos on his mobile phone.
When the victim regained her senses, the accused threatened to blackmail her with her private photos. Sahoo continued to blackmail the woman for sexual favours for around a month. He also threatened to kill her if she revealed anything.
Last week, the woman left Sahoo’s shop and started working in another beauty parlour at Kendrapara town. Infuriated over her action, the accused on Saturday verbally abused her and threatened to make her private photos viral on social media.
The same day, the woman filed an FIR in Pattamundai police station basing on which a case was registered. The accused was arrested under sections 376, 420 and 506 of IPC, sections 66 and 67 of the Information and Technology Act and section 3 of SC and ST (Atrocity Prevention) Act, the IIC informed.
The woman and the accused were taken to the district headquarters hospital for medical examination. Mobile phones of both the victim and Sahoo have been seized.