Three more accused in nun rape case sent to jail

Bhubaneswar, Oct 16 (UNI) Three more accused, arrested by the Orissa Crime Branch police in connection with the alleged rape of a nun in the strife-torn Kandhmal, were sent to jail today.

Earlier, five people arrested in the case were sent to jail after their bail applications were rejected by a local court.

Inspector General (Crime Branch) Arun Ray heading the probe said the three arrested from Palghat in Kerla were medically examined and produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate court at Baliguda today.

The Crime Branch, he said, did not seek for police remand and the three were remanded to jail custody by the court. Police, he said, would conduct the DNA test on the three as one of them as per the description of the nun given in the FIR was the prime accused in the crime.

The nun was raped on August 25 during a mob fury in K Nuagaon under Baliguda police station in the trouble-torn Kandhmal which witnessed largescale arson and communal violence in the aftermath of the killing of VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his disciples on the night of August 23 inside the Jalaspeta Ashrma by some unknown assailants.

The Orissa government had already placed Baliguda police station officer-in-charge K M Rao under suspension and ordered for a Crime Branch inquiry into the incident.

However, the nun who had remained untraced so far after filing the FIR had reportedly written a letter to the Orissa Chief Minister, seeking a CBI probe into the incident.

All eyes were on the Apex court likely to hear a petition filed by Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Bishop Raphel Cheenath praying for a CBI inquiry into the incident.

UNI DP SJC/src2113