3 of family held for attempt to murder

CUTTACK/BHUBANESWAR: Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested four persons, including retired additional district judge Samir Ray, his wife Gitika and son Satyabrata and charged them with abduction and attempt to murder of a 24-year-old pregnant woman. An electrician Prashant Das, who worked with the Ray family, has also been arrested as an accomplice in the case, Cuttack DCP Praveen Kumar told mediapersons. Police are looking for three other accomplices in connection with the shocking incident.  The woman had been thrown off the Mahanadi river barrage with her hands and legs tied. She was left to die but escaped death since she fell on the platform of barrage gate but suffered critical injuries. She was rescued by police after locals saw her crying out for help.  Investigation has revealed that Satyabrata had given ` 3.5 lakh as “supari” to Prashant and others to eliminate the woman. On Monday night, a gang of four gagged the woman and took her along the road through Barang before she was dumped into the barrage.  Since the victim continued to be in a distressed state, police could not get a complete version of the incident though it managed to elicit the details from Satyabrata and Prashant during interrogation. The family, initially, defended itself saying that some unidentified miscreants barged into their Lumbini Vihar home and forcibly took the woman at gunpoint. When they resisted, the Ray family said,  they were warned of dire consequences. However, when police asked them why they did not inform the matter to police and lodge a complaint they could not explain, police said. While the son had an illicit affair with the woman and had promised her marriage, things went haywire when the Ray family found a match for Satyabrata, a lawyer by qualification. Only about 10 days back, the son was engaged formally with a girl from Chandipore which seemed to have triggered protests from the victim who demanded her rights and even wore vermillion and bangles as a wedded woman prompting Satyabrata to hatch the plan. The girl was allegedly taken to the barrage in a car and thrown off the parapet on the Gate No. 11-12 on the Jagatpur-end.  Jagatpur Police have charged the accused under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 328 (causing hurt by poisoning), 364 (kidnapping in order to murder), 493 (cohabiting inducing a belief of marriage) and 417 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code. They have been slapped with Sections 34 (common intention) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. They were produced in a local court later in the day.