Banki: In a chilling reminder of the Nirbhaya case in New Delhi December 16, 2012, a bus driver and two of his aides gangraped a girl in a moving bus and subsequently murdered her before dumping her body in the Mahanadi river.
Police had Tuesday recovered the girl’s body from the river underneath Jatmundia-Subarnapur Bridge under Banki police limits in Cuttack district. The matter came to light after police launched an investigation and arrested two of the main accused Friday.
Police seized the private bus ‘Mahaveer (OR05AJ2342)’ and arrested the driver Santosh Kumar Sahu of Bidhyadharpur village under Choudwar police limits and conductor Bibhuti Rout of Gobindpur village under Badamba police limits. The two will be produced in court Saturday, police said.
The girl of Gourangpur village under Athagarh police limits left home for Cuttack after a tiff with family members, according to police. Later, she boarded a bus to return from Cuttack as she was in a relationship with Sahu. The girl stayed in the bus even after the other passengers had alighted along the way, sources said.
Finding the girl alone, Sahu and Rout, raped her repeatedly in the bus. Another youth reportedly joined them in the crime.
Sahu had a physical relationship with the girl, sources said. He allegedly plotted to eliminate the girl after she insisted that he marry her.The accused then bludgeoned the girl on her head, killing her on the spot. They disposed of her bag near Hulhula canal and dumped her body beneath the bridge.
Later, local fishermen fished out her bag from the Mahanadi. The girl’s photo, an Aadhaar card, mobile phone, and clothes were recovered from her bag. PNn
