Bhubaneswar: The CID-Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Wednesday began an investigation into the alleged gang rape of a college student on the famed Gopalpur beach.

On the other hand, the Opposition Congress staged a demonstration in front of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s residence protesting against the rise in crime against women in the State. A 20-year-old woman was raped allegedly by three of a 10-member gang late Sunday evening on the Gopalpur beach sparking outrage.

Odisha DGP Y B Khurania on Tuesday night declared the incident as a ‘Red Flag’ case and handed its investigation to CID-Crime Branch. Earlier, personnel of the Gopalpur police station, probing into the incident, arrested the 10 accused, including four minors.

A team of CID-Crime Branch personnel reached the Gopalpur beach and began investigation into the case. The team members visited the place of occurrence and talked to local people. The local police apprised the CID team of the case and informed it that the alleged victim had gone to the beach along with a male companion. Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M earlier said that the police arrested 10 persons of whom four were aged 17 years.

“Three adults raped the woman while seven others helped them by capturing the male companion of the survivor,” he said. The six adults, including the prime accused, were produced at the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC)- Rural on Tuesday night and it remanded them to judicial custody.

Additional Public Prosecutor A K Kadam said said the four minor accused, also charged under the same offence, were sent to juvenile homes. “The police have appealed to the court to allow the prosecution to treat the 17-year-old accused persons as adults in view of their involvement in the heinous crime,” Kadam said. The Juvenile Justice Board will decide on this later, he said.

Meanwhile, Congress workers, led by Ajay Kumar Lallu, in-charge of the OPCC, demonstrated before the Chief Minister’s residence and shouted anti-government slogans. There was a scuffle between Congress workers and security personnel before they courted arrest.

They held the State’s BJP government responsible for the rise in crimes against women.

Though Congress has been agitating over the issue for a long time, the immediate protest was triggered by the alleged gang rape in Gopalpur. “The entire country is shocked over the gang rape of the college student. The incidents of atrocities against women and minor girls in Odisha have brought shame.

While the BJP government of Odisha is in deep slumber, today’s agitation is an attempt to wake up this cruel and inefficient government. We also demand the Chief Minister’s resignation,” Lallu told reporters here.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in an X post, expressed her concern over the incident.

“The strongest words are not enough to condemn the brutality that was meted out to a student by 10 men in Gopalpur, Odisha.

Violence against women is increasing day by day in Odisha. In a State where the Chief Minister himself admits that about 44,000 women and children have disappeared in the last five years, not giving priority to women’s safety is in itself an atrocity against women,” she said in the post.