The Nilgiri police arrested a 30-year-old man on Friday on the charge of raping a 23-year-old girl of Babandh village under Siadimal panchayat. The victim in her FIR stated that the accused kept her in a rented house at Brahmapur for about nine months and sexually abused her.
The victim alleged that the accused took her from her village on some pretexts on October 17 last year and lodged her in his relative’s house for a few days, where he started keeping sexual relation with her. later, he took her to a rented house in Brahmapur and continued to rape her. While she could learn that the accused was planning to sell her in West Bengal, she somehow escaped from his clutches. The accused identified as Harish Chandra Behera, however, refuted the allegation. He, on the other hand, said that he had married the complainant before a notary public on October 23 last year.
Nilgiri SDPO SR Mahapatra said, “The accused has been taken into the custody. Whether they married before a notary is under verification.”