DGP Sharma red-flags Ganjam rape-suicide

BERHAMPUR: DGP B K Sharma on Thursday declared a case in Ganjam district, in which a rape victim allegedly committed suicide after being threatened by the accused, as a red flag category case, used to denote serious offences against women.
The accused is a sepoy of the eighth battalion of Odisha State Armed Police (Osap) in Chhatrapur. The DGP directed SP (Ganjam) Brijesh Ray to investigate the case expeditiously and submit a chargesheet. The commandant of OSAP's eight battalion, Udaya Kumar Rath, dismissed the accused, Badal Behera, on August 17 due to his involvement in the heinous offence. Behera, a resident of Damodarapur village under Ganjam police station limits, was arrested on August 1 on charges of raping and threatening a 20-year-old girl of his village and was sent to judicial custody. The victim committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in her home on August 3.