Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police, which is investigating the alleged lynching of railway constable Soumya Ranjan Swain in Bhubaneswar’s Balianta area, is likely to conduct a polygraph test on the woman who had accused him of sexual assault.
According to sources, the investigating agency has approached the court seeking permission to conduct the polygraph test on the woman. However, such a lie detection test can be conducted only after obtaining her consent.
Swain’s family had earlier alleged that the woman made false allegations against him and conspired to have him killed. The Crime Branch is examining these claims as part of its investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death after the attack on May 7.
According to the sequence of events being investigated, Swain was travelling pillion on his friend Om Prakash Rout’s motorcycle when the two-wheeler allegedly collided with a scooter carrying a 22-year-old woman and another woman.
The woman, who was riding pillion on the scooter, allegedly claimed that Swain assaulted and sexually abused her after she fell from the vehicle.
Her allegation allegedly led to a mob attack on Swain. He sustained critical injury in the attack and succumbed.
The Crime Branch is probing the events leading up to the incident, including the woman’s allegations, the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault and the subsequent mob attack that resulted in Swain’s death.