Previously felicitated with the National Bravery Award for saving three women from drowning, a minor boy of Katulikana village under the Champua police station in Keonjhar district has been accused of raping a minor girl of his village.
The alleged incident came to the fore after the girl’s family members lodged a complaint at the Champua police station on Monday evening.
According to the complaint, the boy took the girl to an isolated place on the pretext of offering her noodles to eat and raped her.
On Tuesday, police detained him and took him to custody for interrogation.
“Investigation is underway. Hence, we cannot provide further information,” said Champua PS IIC Manoranjan Pradhan.
Notably, the boy was conferred with the National Bravery Award in 2017 for displaying courage and saving three women from drowning in river Baitarani in the district. He was praised at the State and national levels for his act of bravery. After failing in Class-X annual examination this year, he appeared at the supplementary examination held this month.