Rape convict Bitti Mohanty produced before judge in Kerala

Kannur, Mar 9: Kerala Police produced rape convict Bitti Mohanty before a magistrate in Thaliparamba on Saturday evening hours after they took him into custody for impersonation. The judge sent him to 4 days judicial custody.

Bitti is wanted by the Rajasthan police as he raped a German tourist in Alwar on Mar 21, 2006. Three weeks later, a fast track court sentenced him to seven years imprisonment. However, he jumped parole in Nov 2006 and remained at large till Friday when his luck finally ran out.

Bitti's father Bidya Bhushan Mohanty, the then Director General of Police (Home Guards and Fire Services) in Odisha, is suspected to have helped his son evade arrest for years and was therefore suspended from service.

Bitti told his interrogators on Saturday that he stayed at different places in Andhra Pradesh between 2006 and 2009. Since then, he has been living in Kerala.

He somehow had a new passport and a driver's licence made in the name of Raghav Rajan. Using that fake identity, he obtained an MBA degree and even joined the State Bank of Travancore's Pazhayangadi branch as a probationary officer two years ago.

Recently, somebody informed the bank that their employee is in fact a convicted rapist. The bank then checked all the documents which the man claiming to be Raghav Rajan had provided at the time of joining duty.

Noticing many discrepancies in the same, the bank officials alerted the police. Last night, a special team led by Kannur Superintendent of Police Rahul R Nair nabbed Raghav Rajan.

Though Bitti faces the charge of posing as another person in Kerala, cops from Rajasthan Police are expected to seek his custody shortly. They will apply for his transit remand on Mar 11.

Incidentally, the German tourist has told investigators that Bitti not only raped her at the hotel where she was staying at the time of the incident, he also threatened to kill her if she ever revealed his crime.

Rajasthan police team heads to Kerala for Bitti Mohanty's custody

Armed with an arrest warrant, a state police team headed to Kerala on Saturday to take custody of Mohanty. The three-member team is headed by Lalkothi SHO Sampat Singh, officials said.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)