The Banki police of Cuttack district on Friday arrested the driver and the conductor of a bus for allegedly raping and killing a 17-year-old girl in the bus and carrying the body in the bus to dispose it of under a river bridge. The incident reminds of the 2012 horrific Nirbhaya case of New Delhi.
“We have arrested the driver Santosh Sahu and conductor Bibhuti Rout of Athagarh and recovered the weapon of offence, a lug wrench,” informed Banki SDPO Amresh Panigrahi.
Police had recovered the girl’s body from under the Jatamundia bridge over the Mahanadi on the outskirts of Banki on Wednesday
morning with a deep wound on her forehead.
After ascertaining that the victim was a native of Athagarh, police zeroed in on the bus driver, who allegedly had an affair with the girl.
Quoting family sources, police said the victim of Gourangapur village, had left home on Monday morning saying she was going to a nearby relative’s house. Quizzing the accused, police have gathered that the girl was reportedly taken in the bus to a desolate place in Ratagarh, where she was raped before being murdered.
Not ruling out involvement of more persons in this crime, police said the girl apparently died instantly when her forehead was hit severely with the wrench. “We are waiting for the postmortem report to get more light on the case,” the SDPO said, adding that the doctors have already revealed that the girl was raped multiple times.