In a major development in the sensational incident of a woman being allegedly raped at the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) office in Dasarathpur block of Jajpur district, police have arrested accused Chandrakant Mohapatra, informed the Jajpur SP on Friday.
Chandrakant, a BJD member and cousin of senior party leader Saroj Mohapatra, was arrested from Keonjhar. He had been absconding ever since the matter came to light.
The incident reportedly took place on January 11 around 9 pm and came to the fore after the victim on January 15 lodged an FIR at the Mangalpur police station, on the basis of which a case was registered against Chandrakant.
As per the allegation of the woman, Chandrakant told her to come to the party office for completion of some formalities in order to avail a house under the Biju Pucca Ghar scheme.
She has alleged that Chandrakant initially passed lewd comments at her at the party office. As she tried to leave the spot, Chandrakant assaulted and raped her, the woman alleged, adding that he had also threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to others.
A large numbers of BJP supporters on Friday gheroed the police station at Mangalpur demanding stern action against the accused.