Raurkela: A 54-year-old railway employee has been arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman passenger from Nuapada district on the premises of Raurkela railway station in Odisha after luring her with the promise of arranging a confirmed train ticket to Bengaluru.
The accused, identified as Kapileshwar Singh, a valve man posted at the station, was taken into custody by the Government Railway Police (GRP) on Thursday and later remanded to judicial custody.
According to police, the woman and her two cousins were travelling to Bengaluru for work. The trio initially boarded the wrong train at Titlagarh on Wednesday and reached Hatia. After realising their mistake, they boarded another train to Rourkela and arrived around 9 am on Thursday. As they did not have confirmed tickets for the onward journey, the woman’s cousins went to inquire about reservations while she stayed back near the station’s main entrance or on the platform.
Police said Singh approached her, offered to help arrange a confirmed ticket and took her to a valve room, also described as an operator room near the officers’ rest house on platform no. 1. He allegedly locked the room from inside and raped her. Following the assault, Singh offered her ₹2,000 and threatened her against disclosing the incident to anyone. When he allegedly attempted to assault her a second time, the woman managed to break free, escape the room, and inform her cousins.
The trio immediately approached the GRP and lodged a complaint.
A police team led by Sub-Inspector Kailash Munda swiftly responded, identified Singh on duty with help from the Senior Section Engineer, and detained him at the scene after the survivor identified him as the perpetrator.
The GRP registered a case under Section 64(2)(b) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Both the accused and the survivor underwent medical examination. The survivor has been accommodated at a local One Stop Centre for violence-affected women, where her official statement will be recorded before a magistrate.
In response to the incident, railway authorities took immediate disciplinary action. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Chakradharpur Railway Division, Aditya Chaudhary, confirmed that Singh was terminated from service without pensionary benefits. “We are extending all possible cooperation to the police in the investigation,” he added.