Angul Police crack rape, murder case
Paradip: A 23-year-old woman was raped twice in a day at separate places by her boyfriend and a stranger offering help and then thrown off a four-storey building, leading to her death, in Jagatsinghpur district, police said on Friday. Police arrested both the accused and booked them under various sections of BNS for kidnapping, rape and murder.
“The incident took place on February 22 after the woman left her house with plans to elope with her boyfriend, who had asked her to come to a temple by promising to marry her. However, he took her to a secluded place, raped her and abandoned her at Rahama bus stand,” Jagatsinghpur SP Ankit Kumar Verma told reporters. As the victim was waiting at the bus stand, another man hailing from Jharkhand, who was heading to nearby Paradip on his motorcycle, saw the hapless woman and offered help. He, however, took her to the roof of his rented accommodation at a place in Paradip town and raped her again, the SP said.
The accused then threw the woman from the roof of the building, leading to her death, he said, adding her body was found the next morning. The SP said the victim’s brother lodged a complaint at Paradip Model police station on February 25, alleging that his sister was raped and murdered on February 22. An unnatural death case was registered on February 23 following the recovery of the woman’s body. Earlier, in the evening of February 22, the woman’s brother had lodged a missing persons case at Tirtol police station when his sister did not return home.
The BJD supremo and Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, condemned the incident and demanded justice for the woman and other victims of recent rape incidents. “How many more innocent lives will be lost? From underage girls to differently-abled young women, no one is safe. So, is the rule of law still in place in the State? The news of heinous crimes coming from Angul, Kuchinda in Sambalpur, and Paradip is deeply disturbing. Chaos everywhere, insecurity all around,” he said in an X post.
Angul: The Angul district police cracked a rape and murder case within 24 hours of its occurrence by arresting the lone accused in the NTPC police station area. The accused, identified as Ashish Naik (20), was arrested for allegedly murdering a minor girl after sexually assaulting her.
According to police, the 12-year-old girl, a student of Class 8, left her home on Thursday morning, to collect leafy greens. Worried when she failed to return home, her family searched the village and its surroundings. Her father then filed an FIR at the NTPC police station stating that his daughter had been kidnapped.
Locals spotted the girl’s body in a bush near the village on Friday morning and alerted the police. Senior officials, led by Angul SP Rahul Jain, immediately arrived at the scene to conduct an inquiry with the assistance of a forensic team and a dog squad.
After the crime, Ashish Naik went into hiding to evade arrest. Police eventually located and detained him at his village. SP Jain stated that the case has been assigned to DSP Jogeswari Behera as a special report case. He said all legal procedures, including postmortem and forensic examinations, have been conducted. The SP assured that strict legal action will be taken against the accused.
