After arresting the main accused in the destitute home sexual harassment case here, the police have begun a probe into another angle of the case- the alleged missing of the wife of the main accused.
Police have begun doubting if the woman who had been running the destitute home in Naxapali with 16 girl and four male inmates was alive or not.
Main accused Upendra Dash had been arrested and forwarded to court on Wednesday after four minor girls complained sexual harassment against him before police. Dash had been in charge of the ashram after his wife Arati Dash had left the destitute home following a spat with her husband. Since then Dash was the chief of the destitute home and harassing the girl inmates. Dash had lodged an FIR describing Arati to be missing after one and a half months the latter left the organisation.
"We don't buy the missing story," said Sambalpur SP Nikhil Kumar Kanodia. There must be something behind the incident as Upendra had lodged an FIR in the police station almost one and a half months after Arati had gone missing, said Kanodia.
"It is natural for the people as well as the conscious citizens to smell a rat in it. But our first priority was sexual assault case on the minor girls. After arrest of Dash, now, we are concentrating on the missing of the lady and we will surly reach the destination,"Kanodia informed.
Since an outsider lady was running a destitute home, locals and generous citizens were helping her and donating spontaneously.
They even paid the salary of a teacher to teach the inmates of the ashram. But the ugly affairs of Upendra and Arati going missing are not easily accepted by the locals who demand a thorough investigation to unearth the mystery.