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Odisha police arrest NSUI state chief on rape charges
The NSUI has suspended its Odisha chief Udit Pradhan and the state Congress unit has formed a committee to probe the incident
Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar police have arrested Udit Pradhan, the Odisha state unit chief of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of Congress, on Sunday evening on charges of sexually assaulting a young woman after allegedly drugging her with soft drink in a hotel in the city.
The survivor in her first information report (FIR) said that she, accompanied by a friend and a classmate, was introduced to Pradhan at Master Canteen Square during an outing on March 25 and the group later went to a hotel in Nayapalli in Pradhan’s car.
“He sat next to me and touched me inappropriately. They then took me to a hotel, checked into a room, and started drinking. I don’t drink, so I refused. Udit Pradhan offered me a glass of a cold drink. When I drank it, I started feeling dizzy and asked them to drop me home. I then passed out,” she said in her complaint. “When I regained consciousness, I found Udit Pradhan lying next to me. I felt pain and realised something wrong had happened to me,” she said.
She said that Pradhan threatened her with dire consequences when she confronted him. She filed a police complaint months later, stating that she was afraid to come forward earlier.
Police registered a case against the accused under sections 64(1) - rape, 123 (giving an intoxicating drink to commit a crime), 296 (display of obscene behaviour), 74 (forcibly displaying obscene behaviour towards a woman), and 351(2) (threatening and forcing to commit a wrong act) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
After his arrest, the NSUI suspended Pradhan. “In view of recent developments, the NSUI Odisha State President has been suspended with immediate effect, pending investigation. NSUI maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward gender-based injustice and is unwavering in its commitment to accountability and justice,” it said in a statement.
“The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) formed a six-member committee headed by Sasmita Behera to investigate the matter and submit a report to the OPCC,” the statement said.
