Rape bid: Varsity reader forwarded to court

Burla police produced Minaketan Sahu, Law reader at Sambalpur University booked for allegedly attempting to rape a girl student yesterday, before a local court here today.

Sources said, police have got vital clues about the misconduct during preliminary investigation.

Sahu was arrested for the alleged rape attempt on Sunday in his office room, superintendent of police Akhileswar Singh told mediapersons.

The girl, who is a PhD student at the university, had gone to the reader’s room yesterday along with another student for some official work where she stayed for some time while her friend left. Finding her alone, Sahu allegedly attempted to rape her. She, however, managed to escape, police said.

The student and her family members informed about the matter to the vice-chancellor of the university. But when it did not yield any result, her family approached the police, who in turn arrested the reader on the basis of a written complaint by the student.

This was the second incident of alleged sexual misbehaviour by any reader inside the university campus in the last three months. The head of the History department was earlier arrested in January for allegedly molesting the minor daughter of one of his colleagues.