Finally, Odia rugby player and National Games gold medalist Sujata Pradhan, who was missing since May 18, was rescued by the Commissionerate Police from Nayagarh on Saturday night.
The police arrested one Pravat Pradhan in this connection after registering a kidnapping case against him. The police registered the case because Sujata is a minor girl, official sources said.
But Sujata refused to accept the kidnapping story. She claimed that she was not kidnapped, rather had eloped with her boyfriend Pravat. “I had requested him to take me with him. Then we tied the knot at a temple,” she said, adding, “I had gone with him on my own will.”
Notably, Sujata, a resident of Padasahi in Barang and a Plus-II student at Barang College, had left home on May 18 informing family members that she was going to the Kalinga Stadium for a practice session.
later Sujata’s father Kailash Pradhan had lodged a complaint with the Nandankanan police stating that his daughter might have been kidnapped.