Bhubaneswar: A local court today granted bail to seven engineering students who were arrested for allegedly attacking an official of the Indian Army and misbehaving with his fiancée in Odisha capital here in the late hours of September 15.

The JMFC-2 court here granted bail to the accused Rakesh Nayak (22), Abhilash Samanta (21), Aman Kumar (21), Aditya Ranjan Behera (21), Akash Padhiary (22), Harish Mahanta (21) and Sameer Asis Kumar Swain (22).

As per the complaint, the accused students had attacked the Indian Army Major Guruvansh Singh and hurled abuses at his fiancée Ankita Pradhan over vehicle overtaking issue near Patharagadia at around 2 am on September 15.

The incident took place while the army officer and his fiancée were returning home after closing the latter’s restaurant in the city here.

The Commissionerate Police had detained the accused students yesterday.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by Bharatpur police IIC Deepak Kumar Khandayatray, the accused students were arrested under Section 126 (2), 115 (2), 117 (2) and 296/3 (5) of the BNS.   

The police seized 11 mobile phones from the accused. Soon after their arrest, the seven students were produced in the court.

The accused students, however, rejected all allegations against them.

“The army officer’s fiancée flashed indecent gestures towards us. We had a scuffle with the army officer over the issue. We have been falsely implicated in the case,” said one of the accused while being taken to the court.