The president of the Congress party’s student wing in Odisha has been arrested in connection with the alleged rape of a girl student in Bhubaneswar. The arrest was made after the survivor filed a formal complaint at the Mancheswar Police Station against the accused, Udit Pradhan.
According to the complaint, the incident occurred on March 25, when Pradhan invited the victim and her friends on an outing. He allegedly lured them to a hotel and spiked the victim’s drink with an intoxicating substance before sexually assaulting her in the room.
Despite a delay in reporting the crime, the police acted swiftly after receiving the complaint. “A girl student has alleged that she was drugged and raped in a hotel by Udit Pradhan. Based on her statement, an FIR has been filed and the accused has been arrested,” a senior police official confirmed.
An investigation is underway to verify the sequence of events and collect additional evidence. Pradhan is expected to be presented before a magistrate later in the day.
BJP Slams Congress After Udit Pradhan’s Arrest
BJP leader Amit Malviya attacked the Congress party over the involvement of its student leader in the crime. “Shameful but not surprising. Udit Pradhan, the Odisha State President of Congress’s student wing, has been arrested for the rape of a 19-year-old engineering student in Bhubaneswar,” he said in a post on X.
“This comes close on the heels of another horrific case — where student leaders from both BJD and Congress were complicit in driving the Balasore sexual assault victim to suicide through a vile campaign of character assassination. How long will these parties shield predators in their ranks? How many more young women must suffer before there is accountability? Silence is complicity,” Malviya wrote.
