‘Rape’ at BJD office: Absconding accused held from Odisha’s Keonjhar

Jajpur: In a major development in the sensational incident of a woman being allegedly raped at Biju Janata Dal (BJD) office in Dasarathpur block of Odisha’s Jajpur district, police have arrested accused Chandrakant Mohapatra, informed Jajpur SP.

Chandrakant, a BJD member and cousin of senior party leader Saroj Mohapatra, was arrested from Keonjhar, the official said. He had been absconding ever since the matter came to light.

The incident reportedly took place on January 11 around 9 pm and came to fore after the victim on January 15 lodged an FIR at Mangalpur police station, on the basis of which a case was registered against Chandrakant.

As per the allegation of the woman, Chandrakant told her to come to the party office for completion of some formalities in order to avail a house under the Biju Pucca Ghar scheme.

She has alleged that Chandrakant initially passed lewd comments at her at the office. As she tried to escape from the spot, he assaulted and raped her, the woman alleged, adding that he had also threatened her of dire consequences on disclosing the incident to others.