Four arrested for gang-raping woman at forest in Odisha’s Angul

Angul: As many as four persons, including a minor, have been arrested for allegedly gang-raping a married woman at a forest in Odisha’s Angul district, said SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra at a press conference here today.

While six persons had gang-raped the woman at Purunapani forest in the district, two of them are currently absconding and four have been held. Efforts are on to nab the two, the SP said.

The arrested have been identified as Pilu Behera (22), Nilam Sahu (22), Sujit Sahu (25) and a minor boy, all workers of Sai Infra construction company.

However, the woman, who was mistakenly abandoned by her husband midway at Nakchi in Angul on May 3 night while she along with her husband and six-year-old daughter was travelling to her in-laws’ house in Jagatsinghpur from Sambalpur in a car, had refuted the allegation of being gang-raped.

On the fateful night, they stopped at Nakchi and the woman came out of the car as she had to attend nature’s call. She came back to take a bottle of water from the car and shut the door from outside.

The husband mistakenly thought that she was inside the car and drove the vehicle ahead. After crossing Boinda Chhak, he realised that she was not in the car.

She was noticed by six workers engaged in NH expansion work, who raped her and then left her on National Highway, police said, adding that she took shelter at a person’s house for two days, after which she came to her sister’s home at Jagatsinghpur.

A missing case alleging gangrape and murder of the woman was lodged with Handapa police by her husband after search at Nakchi and other locations.

Police had traced the missing woman from Jagatsinghpur town where she reached on May 5 and visited her sister’s residence there couple of days after the incident.