Nun rape case: IO grilled in court, next hearing on Jan 17

Cuttack, Jan 12 (PTI) A court today posted the hearing ofthe Kandhamal nun rape case to January 17 after thecross-examination of the investigating officer of Orissa CrimeBranch.

Dilip Kumar Mohanty, a DSP-ranked officer of CrimeBranch, was asked about the status of the alleged rape victimin the Baliguda Catholic Church by the defence counsel andasked�whether the Crime Branch had any document or evidence toshow that the rape victim is a nun or not. ���

To a question whether he knows who appoints or who hasthe authority to appoint one as a nun in the church, thepolice officer replied in negative.

����It also came to light that the Crime Branch had not foundout as to under what capacity the alleged rape victim wasworking in the church and what she was doing inside thecompound where she was allegedly raped in August 2008.

Since Crime Branch took charge of the investigation afteralmost more than two months of the incident, the IO had notexamined the previous IO of the case who had rejected threeFIRs of the victim.

When asked as to whether he was aware of the fact thatthe FIR registered in the case was initially drafted by alocal advocate, Mohanty replied in affirmative but deniedhaving examined the advocate after taking charge of the case.

With the cross-examination of Mohanty remaininginconclusive, the trial court adjourned the case for hearingagain on January 17.