Odisha police have arrested Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban, the prime accused in the Anjana Mishra gangrape case, twin city police commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi said on Monday.
Biban, who was on the run for the last 22 years, was nabbed from Aamby Valley at Lonavala on the outskirts of Mumbai by a team of commissionerate police assisted by their Navi Mumbai counterparts. Sarangi said Biban, who was working as a plumber and staying at Aamby valley, had changed his name to Jalandar Swain.
“He had mentioned Naranpur (Cuttack) in his permanent address. When we initiated an inquiry, we found out that no such person belongs to Naranpur. He had a permanent job, Aadhaar card and bank account there. But he was in touch with his family members and had asked them to get a death certificate in his name to avoid arrest,” said Sarangi.
Highlights
Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban, the main accused in the case, was held from Aamby Valley in Lonavala in Maharashtra after nearly 21 years.
He was working there as a plumber under the fake identity of Jalandhar Swain.
Bhubaneswar: In a rarest of rare case, the prime accused in the sensational gang-rape case involving the estranged wife of an IFS officer that led to the resignation of then Odisha chief minister JB Patnaik in 1999 was nabbed after 21 years from Maharashtra.
Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban was held from Aamby Valley in Lonavala in Maharashtra. According to Bhubaneswar- Cuttack s Commissioner of Police S Sarangi, Biban, the prime accused in the case, was working there as a plumber under the fake identity of Jalandhar Swain.
Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) [India] February 23 (ANI): Odisha Police has nabbed the prime accused in a gangrape case pertaining to January 1999 which triggered an outcry across the country, from Maharashtra's Lonavala on Sunday.
After 22 years, prime accused in sensational Odisha gangrape case nabbed
The incident, the occurred in 1999, had created a state-wide outrage and led to the resignation of the then Odisha CM JB Patnaik. Representative image (Source: Thinkstock)
Updated: Feb 23, 2021, 02:49 PM IST
After a long time of 22 years, the prime accused in the sensational gangrape case in Odisha was held from Maharashtra on Monday. The case involved the estranged wife of an IFS officer and had caught major attention as it led to the resignation of the then state CM JB Patnaik.
As per the police, Bibekananda Biswal alias Biban was nabbed from Aamby Valley in Lonavala in Maharashtra. He had assumed the fake identity of Jalandhar Swain and was working there as a plumber.
Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: Twenty-two years after the gangrape of the estranged wife of an IFS officer rocked the country and caused a political shakeup in Odisha, almost costing former Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik his job, police have finally managed to nab the prime accused Biban alias Bibekananda Biswal.
Biban had been absconding since 1999 and the CBI, which had been entrusted the investigation into the incident by the Orissa High Court had failed to trace him in all these years. He was suspected to have died or murdered.
Even as the case had been put in cold storage for over a decade, the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police recently reopened the file after getting some leads on Biban. And it launched Operation Silent Viper to track him down.