Amaresh Jena, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s BJD corporator, was arrested on Sunday from Balasore district of Odisha in connection with a rape case registered against him in the state capital.
After the rejection of his bail plea by a POCSO court, Jena was remanded to a 14-day judicial custody. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) promptly suspended him from the party following his arrest.
Jena was booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including rape, committing miscarriage without a woman’s permission, obscene act, and criminal intimidation, in addition to charges under the POCSO Act.
Police had initiated a special manhunt after Jena became incommunicado and was not found at his residence. “Finally, he was located at a village in Nilgiri area under the Berhampur police station limits and apprehended by the special squad,” stated Abhimanyu Nayak, the additional commissioner of police (ACP), Zone-IV, said.
After apprehending Jena, he was brought to Bhubaneswar and produced before the POCSO court, the officer said.
The complaint, lodged by a 19-year-old woman at Laxmisagar Police Station earlier this week, alleges that Jena sexually exploited her under the promise of marriage when she was 17 years old. She accused him of rape, foeticide, cheating, and criminal intimidation.
The woman claimed that Jena took her to Puri and got her engaged in physical relations and, in February 2024, while she was still a minor, forced her to undergo an abortion. She also alleged that he threatened her to keep the matter secret.
The woman’s statement has been recorded, and she has undergone a medical test.
As Jena was being taken for a medical examination to the Capital Hospital, Jena claimed, “Archana Nag has trapped me. I’m 100 per cent sure she framed me. Ask her, she’ll reveal everything.”
Nag, who was arrested in 2022 on blackmailing charges and is currently out on bail, speaking to reporters, denied any connection to Jena’s case.
Jena’s wife, meanwhile, asserted her husband’s innocence, claiming he was a victim of a political conspiracy and had surrendered to the police. “My husband is a senior corporator of ward 45 in the BMC. He has been trapped,” she said.
However, a senior police officer said that Jena was apprehended while in hiding in a village in the Nilgiri area, which is close to a forest and could escape from there if any police were conducting an operation to apprehend him.
The arrest of Jena has ignited a political debate.
BJD Bhubaneswar president Ashok Panda affirmed Jena’s suspension would not impact the party. “No one is indispensable in the BJD. I reiterate that the law will take its own course. The BJD has acted immediately as soon as Jena was arrested by the police. We stand by the party’s pro-women ideology,” Panda said.
Ruling BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal, on the other hand, criticised the BJD, alleging that the complainant was being “sexually abused since 2023, but could not lodge a complaint due to fear and political pressure under the BJD regime”.
Biswal added, “Now that there’s faith in the system, she finally came forward. Justice will now prevail.”
“Those (BJD leadership) who suspended Jena from the party should also take up the moral responsibility if they are truly sensitive to the issue,” Biswal added.
In a related development, police arrested five of Jena’s aides on Saturday night for allegedly helping him in evading arrest by providing conveyance.
This week, the Bhubaneswar police also arrested Udit Pradhan, the state president of NSUI (the student wing of the Congress), on similar charges of raping an engineering student. Pradhan has also been suspended from his party.
