Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police have arrested four individuals in the suspected case of sexual assault, which sent shockwaves across Bhubaneswar after a 16-year-old girl was found in a bloodied and semi-conscious state.
According to sources, Abinash Muduli, a 28-year-old from Nayagarh, dropped the minor girl at the Capital Hospital after raping her. The others arrested are two pimps – Manju Sethi (47) and Mamata Sahu (42)- and Sanjib Kumar Das (54), owner of the house where the girl was reportedly kept. They were nabbed after police collected details of a woman who had booked the auto-rickshaw, in which the girl had arrived at Capital Hospital here, through an online app and conducted a raid at a house under the Laxmisagar police limits, where three other women engaged in prostitution were also rescued.
The minor victim was apparently trafficked into the sex racket, which was operating in Laxmisagar area of the city. The matter came to light after she was found writhing in pain on the roadside in the Ashok Nagar area of the city on October 16. The medical team alerted the police through the hospital’s outpost in accordance with the protocol after it was found that the girl had a history of sexual assault and was suffering from psychological disorders. She had sustained serious injuries on her private parts.
“… We received a complaint at the Capital Police Station regarding physical disrobing and sexual assault. Upon initiating an inquiry, we identified two women involved in pimp activities and rescued three other victims. All the arrested women are currently being interrogated. One victim who is hospitalised is from Jharkhand. We are making efforts to contact her family…,” Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena told the media.
Two separate cases under section 65(1) of BNS and section 6 of the POCSO Act have been registered at Laxmisagar and Capital police stations, respectively. The house owner and two women pimps have been booked for running the sex racket (human trafficking), while a case of sexual assault has been registered against the youth for sexually assaulting the minor girl.
Police are also in touch with their counterparts in Jharkhand to ascertain her identity.