The Congress on Saturday demanded arrest of Bari BJD MlA Debasis Nayak for his alleged hand in the “kidnapping” of a 35-year-old woman. Youth Congress leader Biswa Ranjan Mallick was referring to the kidnapping of Susanti Samal from a bus on Friday at Gopalpur on NH-5.
“In no civilised country, a legislator engineers kidnapping of a woman in distress by his hooligans. The only mistake of the woman was that she had lodged a complaint against some BJD goons who had harassed her in the MlA’s residence in Bhubaneswar a couple of days ago. If Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has minimum respect for women, he should immediately initiate criminal actions against his party MlA,” Mallick said. On Friday, six persons allegedly stopped a private bus in which Susanti was travelling to Bhubaneswar, dragged her out and kidnapped in a Mahindra Bolero vehicle despite the opposition by the driver and conductor.
Some people who witnessed the incident informed the police who intercepted the vehicle at Kuakhia. Two persons, Prafulla Sahu and Alekh Palei, were arrested while the kidnappers managed give a slip to the police. Prafulla Sahu is said to be the block representative of MlA Nayak.
A local court remanded Prafulla Sahu and Alekh Palei to judicial custody after rejecting their bail pleas. MlA Nayak, however, told reporters that he was not present in Odisha when the incident took place. He also denied having any links with the arrested persons. Inspector Kumar Nayak of Kuakhia police station said the culprits were booked under Sections 119/13. 341, 354, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code