Ex-Boyfriend Charged With Abetment To Suicide After Odisha Student's Death

The police have booked the ex-boyfriend of the 19-year-old woman college student whose charred body was found in her house in Kendrapara district, on charge of abetment of suicide and sexual harassment, an officer said on Sunday.

The Pattamundai (Rural) Police Station has booked Pramod Behera of the locality under Sections 296 (obscene act), 75 (sexual harassment), 78 (stalking) and 108 (abetment of suicide) of the BNS and Sections 66-E and 67-A of the IT Act, the officer said.

Behera was booked after the victim's father lodged a written complaint at the police station on Saturday, naming him as the prime accused, Kendrapara SP Siddharth Kataria told reporters. The father in his FIR has alleged that Behera, the ex-boyfriend of his daughter, was blackmailing her and threatening to make her intimate pictures viral on social media.

The father also alleged that Behera forced his daughter to commit suicide by setting herself on fire by pouring inflammable substances when no one was there at their house. The woman's charred body was found on the staircase of the house.

Though she had approached the police six months ago, her complaint was ignored by the then ASI of Pattamundai (Rural) Police Station Saliendra Mohan Palei. The ASI has been transferred from the police station to pave the way for a transparent investigation into the matter.

Meanwhile, Behera's mother and sister have admitted that he had a relationship with the woman, but he has not blackmailed her or made any picture or video viral, as alleged by the victim's father. They instead alleged that the woman's father had set his daughter on fire in a case of honour killing.

Behera's mother claimed that her son is innocent and that he has been intentionally dragged into this case.

Based on the Behera family's allegation, the police have interrogated the victim's father and brother, besides talking to her mother.
 

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