BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police, which on Saturday submitted its chargesheet in Pipili incident, has ruled out rape of the victim, who is battling for life at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. In the 448-page document, the investigating agency submitted charges against two persons. Prashant Pradhan is the main accused. He has been charged under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (outraging modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation) and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The Crime Branch has also named Prashant’s brother, Sukant Pradhan. He has been charged with intimidating the family of the victim. The CB said it has not found Sukant’s direct role in the attack on the victim. The investigating agency had arrested four persons, including Prashant and Sukant, in connection with the case. The other two __ Premananda Nayak and Guna Chandra Swain __ have not been found in anyway connected with the incident. However, during investigation, the Crime Branch found out that they were issuing threats to the family of the victim in connection with an earlier case of 2008 for which a separate FIR has been registered and the duo has been booked. While the chargesheet is likely to lead to new controversies __ the State Commission for Women chief Jyoti Panigrahy too had faced heat for claiming that there was no evidence of rape __ the CB maintained that the allegation of rape could not be substantiated during its investigation, which was carried out by four teams, headed by a DSP-ranked officer. “Apart from the allegation in the FIR, which is based on mere suspicion, no piece of evidence has come substantiating the allegation of rape,” the Crime Branch stated. Though the January 9 FIR mentioned rape in the heading, there was no mention about it in the body. The earlier complaint, which was received at Pipili Police Station on November 30, 2011 but was not registered, also did not allege rape, the agency said. It also quoted the medico-legal examination of the victim by the medical board of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which had ruled out gangrape. While chemical examination of the victim’s garments did not back up the rape allegation, the AIIMS team could not come to a conclusion on rape due to lapse of time, the CB said. In the chargesheet, the Crime Branch claimed that the main accused, Prashant, had admitted to attempting to kill the victim but denied committing rape and the polygraph test confirmed it. Besides, he had also confided about his plans to murder the victim to a close associate, who was examined by the investigation agency. Similarly, the police have taken cognisance of the extra judicial confessions of the accused too. Earlier, the CB submitted the chargesheet before Judicial Magistrate First Class, Pipili, exactly 60 days after the FIR and prayed for trial in the case.
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