Bhubaneswar, July 27: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday suspended Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Corporator Amaresh Jena alias Bayan from the party following his arrest in an alleged rape case with immediate effect.
As per an official office order signed by BJD vice president (Headquaretrs) Pratap Jena, the suspension takes effect immediately as per the order of party presient Naveen Patnaik.
Jena was nabbed by the Commissionerate Police from the Nilagiri area of Balasore district today. He had gone underground ever since he was booked under multiple serious sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.
The arrest came after a 19-year-old girl accused Jena of sexually exploiting her while she was a minor, coercing her into an abortion, and threatening her to remain silent.
Notably, on Saturday, Laxmisagar police arrested five associates of Jena - Bibek Kumar Swain, Bikram Mohanty, Debendra Kumar Bhola, Suman Kumar Sahoo and Rajib Champati on the charges of helping the accused abscond.
On July 23, the Laxmisagar police registered a rape against Jena based on the complaint of the survivor who accused the BJD corporator of rape, foeticide, cheating, and criminal intimidation. She alleged that the corporator kept physical relations with her promising marriage, when she was a minor in 2023.
As per the complaint of the girl, she met Jena for the first time in June 2023 and their friendship grew. She claims that Jena took her to Puri, engaged in physical relations, and in February 2024, when she was still a minor, forced her to abort a two-month pregnancy by administering pills promising her that he would divorce his wife and marry her.
The girl accused Jena of starting to avoid her since April this year and threatening to eliminate her unless she remain silent.
Jena has been booked under BNS Sections 64(2) (m) (repeated rape), 89 (causing miscarriage without the woman's consent), 296 (obscene acts in public), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) and under Section 6 of the POCSO Act (aggravated sexual assault of minor).
