Aide of suspended NSUI’s Odisha unit chief held for ‘raping’ college student

Bhubaneswar: An associate of suspended NSUI Odisha unit president was arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a 19-year-old college student four months ago, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Ayushman Sahu, was apprehended in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, a senior officer said.

NSUI Odisha unit president Udit Pradhan was arrested on Sunday after the woman lodged a complaint before the Mancheswar Police Station, alleging that the Congress student wing chief and his associate mixed an intoxicating substance in her drinks and raped her in a hotel.

“While recording her statement before the police and the court, the woman alleged that both Pradhan and Sahu had raped her by mixing some intoxicated substance in her drinks,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (zone-5), Bhubaneswar, Biswaranjan Senapati told PTI.

Following her statement, Sahu was arrested, and preliminary investigations suggested that the woman was gang-raped, the ACP said.

“The two arrested persons have been sent to 14-day judicial custody,” Senapati said.

The ACP said a female friend of the college student accompanied her to the hotel on March 18, when the alleged incident happened.

"We have called the complainant's female friend to record her statement on Wednesday. The investigation is underway,” Senapati said.

National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), a wing of the Congress, suspended Pradhan after the alleged incident came to light on July 21.

According to the complainant, the woman and her female friend went to meet Sahu, and they were moving around in his car on March 18. Pradhan joined them at Railway Station Square as he knew Sahu.

Pradhan and Sahu then took her to a hotel in Mancheswar and allegedly committed the crime, the woman alleged.

Several posters with photos of the suspended NSUI state president alongside Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi and Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das were put up in Bhubaneswar.

Members of the Congress student wing tore some of the posters last evening.