Odisha woman alleges harassment by cops

BHUBANESWAR:  A woman on Saturday accused the police of harassing her on Thursday while she was going to the official residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s private secretary V Karthikeyan Pandian.Sonalika Mohanty, who claims to be the wife of Talcher MLA Braja Kishore Pradhan, accused Commissionerate Police of intercepting her on April 26 when she was going to Pandian’s residence to request him to facilitate her meeting with the Chief Minister in the case of attack on her by the MLA’s relatives. Mohanty said she married the MLA in 2014 but he was not accepting her as his wife.

In her statement Mohanty said, some police officers took her in a four-wheeler to different locations in the Capital before confining her at an unknown location in Nandankanan. “I was kept there till 9 pm on April 26.  Police questioned me, but there were no lady police officers in the room, though they were present in the building,” she said.

Mohanty claimed that police forced her to confess that it was a political conspiracy and she was sent to Pandian’s house by a Parliamentarian.She also charged the police officers of taking her signatures in about 10 blank papers before leaving her.In September last year, Mohanty had attempted suicide by cutting her hand in front of the Chief Minister’s residence as he had not heard her grievance.

Meanwhile, police termed the allegations as baseless. “We received information that she might create some law and order problems, following which she was intercepted and taken for counselling,” Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Kumar Sahoo said.She was not confined anywhere and after counselling she was dropped at her house, the DCP added.