Puri: Police on Monday arrested a couple for their alleged involvement in the sensational Puri gang rape case. With this, the total number of arrests in the case has risen to six.
Puri SP Uma Sankar Dash identified the accused as Ranjit Parida and Soumya Shefalika Parida.
According to police sources, the couple had allegedly brought the gang rape survivor from Bhubaneswar to Puri.
The 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped inside a police quarter near Jhadeswari Club in Puri town on December 2. Jitendra Sethi, a dismissed constable and the prime accused, had picked the minor girl from the bus stand at Nimapara in a car on the pretext of giving her a lift to her native place at Kakatpur. Later, he and three friends took her to Puri and raped her.
However, the girl managed to escape and informed local people.
Following a complaint, a case was registered against the accused under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, besides the IPC.
Town Police then started an investigation and arrested the prime accused the following day. Three others – Bulu Barik, a CRPF jawan, Rama Chandra Pradhan, and Rajesh Sethy- were subsequently apprehended from different places.
