Prof held for rape attempt in Odisha

Minaketan Sahu, the head of the law department of Sambalpur Univeristy, has been arrested by the police on charges of trying to sexually assault a woman PhD student of the department.

He was taken to a court on Tuesday. “The police found prima facie evidence against the accused during preliminary investigation. On that basis, he has been arrested and forwarded to court. We have also recorded the statement of some of the witnesses in the case. A detailed probe into the incident is on,” Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Sambalpur, S K Panigrahi said.

The incident allegedly took place last Sunday when a group of students of the department, including the PhD student, had gathered at the university to work for a national seminar scheduled to be held on Monday.

The teacher had reportedly called the research scholar to his room on some pretext and made an attempt to assault her sexually. When she raised an alarm, other students and staff members rushed to the spot and rescued her.

The police began a preliminary investigation into the case on Monday after the victim registered a complaint. The sexual harassment cell of the university is also probing into the case separately.

The accused teacher Sahu, however, has denied the charge and said that he was being framed in the case.