Police have arrested a self-proclaimed Baba for allegedly raping a deserted woman during the ensuing Khandagiri Mela here.
The Khandagiri police arrested the Baba from Bolgarh in Khordha district on Thursday. The accused was identified as Nageswar Patra (65) of Rajsunakhela under the Ranpur police limits in Nayagarh district. Both the Baba and the victim were sent for medical examination.
The Baba allegedly raped the woman (62) at the Barabhuja Ashram at Khadagiri on Wednesday night. He had invited the woman to visit the Kandagiri Mela and raped her on the pretext of giving initiation to her. The victim was found in a critical condition near Dhabaleswar Gada in the CDA area of Cuttack.
The Khandagiri police raided the Barabhuja Ashram to nab the accused. But he was at large. The police tried to track the Baba’s mobile number and finally caught him from Bankoi in Bolgarh on Thursday. The accused confessed to his crime before the police.
The woman was in such condition that she had no courage to file a police complaint. Earlier, she was staying near Dhabaleswar Gada in Brajabiharipur area under the CDA Phase 2 police station in Cuttack since last few years after she was driven out of her house.
last week, while she was returning from Puri after paying obeisance to lord Jagannath, she met the Baba in the bus. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Baba invited her to the ashram. The Baba left for his destination giving the woman a business card to contact him with an invitation to meet him at the Khandagiri Mela for initiation.
The victim arrived at the Mela on Monday morning and the business card helped her locate the Baba at an ashram. The duo had rounds of spiritual discussions. In the afternoon, the woman sought permission to leave for her home.
The Baba advised the woman to stay back on the pretext of giving her initiation at night. She spent the night in a room in the ashram having no inkling of the ill intention of the Baba and one of his associates.
later in the dead of the night, the Baba raped her brutally in an inebriated state injuring her head and forced her away from the ashram in the wee hours the following day.