Dilip Kumar

Cuttack: Gang-rape survivor Anjana Mishra has demanded capital punishment for the prime accused, Biban Biswal, who was nabbed from Maharashtra by the Commissionerate Police on Monday, twenty-two years after the horrific crime triggered a political storm in the State.

In her first reaction to the arrest, the survivor exclusively told OTV, "I feel he (Biban) should be hanged till death."

Narrating her 22 years of ordeal while seeking justice, Mishra said “I am a dead person in all those years while living with the pain and trauma.”

"Over the years multiple attempts have been made to eliminate me. My house was vandalised. I was not allowed to stay in my house. I am forced to live with my mother," she said.

Hitting it out at the CBI which is investigating the high profile case, Mishra said the Central probe agency did not cooperate with her in any manner.

"The CBI sat over the case and never bothered to give me justice,” she said.

She also expressed her gratitude to the Commissionerate Police for bringing the main perpetrator to justice.

“Though I didn’t get justice from the CBI, the Commissionerate Police finally managed to nab the prime accused. I must extend my sincere gratitude to Commissioner Sudhansu Sarangi and his team for their efforts," she added.

Launching a scathing attack on the Congress party which was ruling the State when the ghastly incident had occurred, Mishra alleged that Biswal managed to evade arrest due to strong patronage by politicians belonging to that party.

It is worth mentioning that Biban Biswal, the prime accused in the case, who was on the run for 22 years, was arrested by Commissionerate Police from Aamby Vally near Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra in a closely guarded operation, code named ‘Silent Viper’.

Commissioner of Police, Sudhansu Sarangi broke the news of Biswal’s arrest at an emergency press conference in the State capital in the morning.

Sarangi said Biban was holed up at Aamby Vally by changing his name to Jalandhar Swain and worked in the idyllic hill resorts as a plumber. The police have apprised the CBI about the arrest, he said.

Biban along with his associates had allegedly gang-raped the survivor, who was 29 then, inside her car on the Bhubaneswar-Barang road on January 9, 1999 while she was on her way to the capital city along with her friend.

Two of the accused had been arrested barely 17 days after the incident. The duo had been convicted by District and Sessions Judge of Khurda which sentenced them to life imprisonment. However, Biswal managed to evade arrest for the next 22 years until the Commissionerate police busted his hideout on Monday.

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