ASSEMBLY POLL '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS '98
ARCHIVES

Anjana Mishra allegedly gang-raped

Anjana Mishra, the estranged wife of an Indian Foreign Service officer who had alleged that former state advocate general Indrajit Ray tried to rape her, was allegedly gang-raped at gunpoint on Saturday night by three unidentified persons near Bhubaneswar.

Mishra was going to Bhubaneswar to meet her lawyer when at about 2130 hours near the Nandankanan National Park, some scooter-borne miscreants overtook her vehicle and blocked its path. They attacked the driver and journalist Sutunu Guru, news editor of a local television channel, and threatened them. They were severely beaten up by the men who then allegedly raped Mishra in the car.

The three men then drove the vehicle to the nearby Barang forest where Mishra was allegedly raped again over four hours. She reached the women police station in Bhuabneshwar early this morning and lodged a complaint. She was later sent to the SCB medical college hospital for medical examination with police escort.

The driver and Guru were severely beaten up by the men, Mishra claimed. She alleged that her request for personal security for the journey had been turned down. She had been provided police protection at the instance of the Orissa high court, which had also ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into her allegation that Indrajit Ray had tried to rape her in July 1997.

The CBI, after making its investigations, had last year chargesheeted Ray in the molestation case. The trial is on at the CBI designated court at Bhubaneshwar. The next hearing in the case was slated for January 11.

However, the high court had imposed a stay on the proceedings after Ray petitioned it, challenging the designated court's refusal to allow him to cross-examine the witnesses. The issue had created ripples in the state then, with all the opposition political parties accusing Chief Minister J B Patnaik of protecting the former advocate general.

UNI

RELATED REPORT:
Protests over alleged rape of Anjana Mishra rock Orissa

Tell us what you think of this report