Cuttack/Puri: After more than a month of intensive pursuit, Cantonment police in Odisha’s Cuttack have arrested the alleged mastermind in the horrific gang rape of a Plus III college student, which took place in a hotel in Puri earlier this year.
The 22-year-old accused, identified as Satyabrat Parida, was apprehended from Jajpur road railway station on Wednesday morning. He was working with a private firm in Delhi.
According to sources, the crime took place in February. Parida knew the survivor, a young woman from the Jajpur area who was pursuing her undergraduate studies in Cuttack, and they went on a trip to Puri along with his three associates, all hailing from the Binjharpur area. The group traveled to Puri on two motorcycles and checked into a hotel where the woman was allegedly held against her will. She was served food and beverages laced with sedatives, causing her to lose consciousness. The four men then allegedly gang-raped her repeatedly inside the hotelroom.
The survivor regained consciousness later that evening, realised the extent of the assault, and managed to return to Cuttack, where she lodged a formal complaint at the Cantonment police station.
Following a tip-off that Parida was traveling back from Delhi to Jajpur, a special police team, including a female sub-inspector, intercepted and detained him around 11 am at Jajpur Road railway station. Further raids are underway across multiple locations in Jajpur district to nab the three remaining absconding accomplices.
