The BJP women's wing Monday gheraoed the state crime branch police headquarters demanding justice for 2011-12 Pipili gang rape and murder victim and alleging that the prosecution botched the investigation into it.
The BJP Mahila Morcha activists led by its president Pravati Parida held a rally from the district party office here and marched towards the police headquarters at Buxi Bazaar, which also houses the crime branch headquarters.
Initially, there was a commotion near the gates of the police headquarters when the activists tried to barge into the prohibited areas by breaking through the barricades and the police cordon.
Normalcy was restored after some activists were taken into preventive custody. They were later released.
A senior police officer denied charges that the police misbehaved with the women activists.
Addressing the protest rally, Parida said her party had earlier doubted the crime branch probe into the Pipili gangrape and murder case as local BJD legislator and minister Pradeep Maharathy allegedly shielded the accused.
"Our suspicion are now confirmed after six years when a trial court exonerated the two key accused in the case for lack of evidence," Parida said alleging that the prosecution botched the investigations by destroying evidences.
The first additional session court of Bhubaneswar earlier this month acquitted key accused in the case Prashant Pradhan and his younger brother Sushant.
The trial court however, has held that the 19-year-old girl was murdered.
The crime branch decided to challenge the verdict in the Orissa High Court.
A 19-year-old woman was found unconscious and semi- naked in a paddy field in Pipli on November 28, 2011. She succumbed on June 21, 2012 after remaining semi-comatose in SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
Maharathy had to resign from the ministry in 2012 in the face of a statewide hue and cry for allegedly sheltering the accused persons. Maharathy again became a minister in 2014.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)