Bhubaneswar: Bitihotra Mahanti, convicted for raping a German tourist in Alwar in Rajasthan in 2006, died while undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar late on Sunday.
According to sources, he was suffering from stomach cancer and died at around midnight. He complained of bleeding about one and half months back and was on supporting treatment.
Son of Odisha’s former DGP Bidya Bhushan Mahanti, he was in Bhubaneswar on parole to attend to his ailing mother, the sources added.
CONVICTION & JUMPING PAROLE
In April, the Supreme Court had upheld the Rajasthan High Court’s verdict of a seven-year jail sentence to Bitihotra in connection with the case. The court also directed him to surrender before the jail authorities within two months, before June 5.
He was primarily convicted by the Fast Track Trial Court Alwar within 15 days of his arrest on April 12, 2006. The Rajasthan HC upheld his conviction on October 4 the same year.
While his Special Leave Petition (SLP) was pending before the SC, Bitihotra was granted bail on March 31, 2017, but he continued to remain behind bars as he had to spend three months, the maximum punishment, in connection with a parole jumping case.
When serving his seven-year jail sentence, given by the lower court, he was given parole for 15 days for his mother’s illness on November 20, 2006. He had to go back to jail on December 4, 2006, but he escaped and was again arrested on March 8, 2013, from Kerala’s Pazhayangadi, where he working as a probationary officer in a public sector bank by impersonating as a person from Andhra Pradesh.
After jumping bail in 2006, Bitihotra obtained an MBA degree and managed to get into the bank as a probationary officer.
The lower court then sentenced him to three months imprisonment in connection with his absconding during his parole period. The court had asked him to serve a three-month sentence after completing his sentence in the rape case.
His plea that both sentences should be run together was also rejected by the High Court in 2017.
Bitti’s father had stood surety for his son’s return to prison in 15 days. He was suspended for allegedly helping his son jump parole but was reinstated by the Odisha government on May 13, 2009. He retired from service as director general, fire services and commandant general, home guards, on April 30, 2010.
TIMELINE
March 21, 2006: Bitihotra accused of raping German woman at Alwar, Rajasthan
April 12, 2006: A fast-track courts sentenced Biti to 7-year jail
November 20, 2006: Biti proceeded on fortnight-long parole
December 4, 2006: Biti jumps parole
December 18, 2006: Father B B Mahanti says Biti was abused in jail
December 20, 2006: Rajasthan police team reaches Cuttack, begins search
December 25: Psychiatrist said Biti was in Cuttack on parole
January 4, 2007: Rajasthan orders administrate probe into Biti escape
January 10, 2007: Rajasthan police book B B Mahanti for not honouring surety
August 4, 2007: Odisha government recovers Rs 50,000 from B B Mahanti which he had pledged as surety while taking Biti on parole
August 24, 2007: Odisha govt suspends B B Mahanti after a Jaipur court issues NBW against him. He goes missing
October 4, 2007: Jaipur court issues arrest warrants against father, son
October 7, 2007: Odisha govt issues newspaper advertisement, asks B B Mahanti to report within 15 days
November 15, 2007: Jaipur court says father-son to become proclaimed offender unless they surrender within a month
December 7, 2007: Cuttack police paste public notices, asking B B Mahanti to surrender before Jaipur court on January 10, 2008
January 3, 2008: Supreme Court asks B B Mahanti to surrender before Jaipur court
January 10, 2008: B B Mahanti surrenders after five months on the run, sent on judicial remand
January 11, 2008: B B Mahanti gets bail
May 13, 2009: B B Mahanti’s rejoins job after Odisha government revokes suspension, denies knowledge about the whereabouts of Biti and says he wants to “forget him”
April 30, 2010: B B Mahanti retires from government service as director general, fire services and commandant general, home guards.
