Congress Asks If Attackers Of Army Officer & Fiancee Have Links With Odisha CM, Seeks PM’s Intervention

Bhubaneswar: As the alleged assault on an Army officer and his fiancée at Bharatpur Police Station in Bhubaneswar triggered a nationwide uproar, several videos of the incident that preceded their ordeal have gone viral.

The Army officer and his fiancée have alleged that they were intercepted and assaulted by around 12 youths near Patharagadia in Chandaka area late on September 14, after which they had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint about the attack.

With video of the incident on Chandaka road going viral, Congress has raised several questions about those who allegedly attacked the couple. The video showed one of the hooligans taking the name of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi while threatening the woman, said Congress in a post on X.

When the women tried to resist being harassed by the attackers and sought to know who they were, one of them was heard asking whether she knew Mohan Majhi. Some social media posts also mentioned the youth as having close links with the CM, congress leaders said.

The AICC on its X handle stated that the youths were repeatedly taking the name of CM Mohan Majhi while harassing and threatening the woman, which showed some BJP leaders were involved in the incident

Congress sought to know whether the police refused to receive the complaint from the couple because of involvement of BJP leaders and to shield saffron leaders. The party wanted to know if top leaders of BJP were involved in the incident because of which the woman was sexually assaulted in the police station when the couple went there to lodge a complaint about the attack by hooligans on the road.

Congress also urged the Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi to reach out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to seek action in the Odisha incident.

Addressing a press meet in New Delhi on Saturday, AICC in-charge for Odisha Ajoy Kumar said the Chief of Army Staff must reach out to the Prime Minister and convey to him that all this is not acceptable to them (the army personnel). “Is this how a defence officer is treated by some ‘uniformed goons’ inside a police station in the BJP-ruled state of Odisha,” he said.