CBI Recreates ‘Sexual Assault’ On Anjana Mishra At Gunpoint Scene In Bhubaneswar Forest

Bhubaneswar: The CBI on Friday morning took Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban, the prime accused in the sensational 1999 Anjana Mishra gangrape case, to Barang, on the outskirts of the city, for recreating the crime scene.

Biban will be later questioned at the CBI office in Bhubaneswar.

The two-day remand of Biban also ends at 5 pm, following which the central investigating team has to produce him before the CBI Special Judge Court.

More than two decades after the incident, which forced the then Chief Minister J B Patnaik to step down, Biban was nabbed at Lonavala, Pune, where he was living under an assumed identity, on February 22. 

THE CRIME

The car in which Anjana and her journalist friend were travelling was forcibly stopped near Barang, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, by three persons – Pradip Sahoo alias Padia, Dhirendra Mohanty alias Punia and Biban – on January 9, 1999.  Anjana was then sexually assaulted by the trio at gunpoint inside the Bhaluka forest for over four hours.

During that time, she was fighting an attempt-to-rape case against the then Advocate General Indrajit Ray.

THE ARRESTS

On January 26, police seized the scooter used by the miscreants and arrested Padia and Punia. They were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2002. Meanwhile, Padia has died.

CONSPIRACY ANGLE

After claiming to have identified Biban as her tormentor during the TI parade on Monday, Anjana had hoped that the CBI would also unravel the ‘conspiracy angle’ in the case.

“I hope the CBI also probes the conspiracy angle. It should find out how Biban managed to evade arrest for 22 years,” Anjana was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Also Read: It Was Painful To See His Face Again After 22 Years: Anjana Mishra

She had alleged that Ray and JB were behind the attack on her. Both Ray and JB are no more.