Jeypore: The third phase of hearing in the sensational Kunduli gang rape and suicide of a minor girl was held in the Koraput District & Sessions Court Sunday.
Four persons, including the doctor who had attended to the victim, Dr. Akankhya Tripathy, were produced before Koraput District & Sessions Judge-cum-Commissioner Bidyut Kumar Mishra for the hearing.
The other three to depose were District Child Protection official, Rajashree Das, District home guard DSP, Kishore Chandra Das, and Live Foundation NGO worker Sujata Nayak.
Family members of the victim and members of other NGOs are yet to depose. They will be given notice in the coming days, sources said adding the last date of hearing is June 25.
Earlier, Crime Branch DSP Saubhagya Laxmi Patnaik and former Inspector-In-Charge (IIC) of Jeypore police station Tapan Narayan Rath had deposed before the Judge during the second hearing of the case May 20.
Similarly, Pottangi police station IIC Deb Kumar Gamang and Inspector of Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) Mamata Panigrahi had appeared before the court in the first phase after the Commission of Inquiry set up to probe the case started its hearing May 13.
The Class IX girl of Mushaguda village had alleged she was gang-raped by four “persons in uniform” October 10, 2017. The case was first investigated by police and later handed over to the Crime Branch (CB) after the intervention of Chief Minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik.
Later, Human Rights Protection Cell (HRPC) ADG, Mahendra Pratap, revealed the victim was not raped. Amid the hue and cry, the girl hanged herself to death in her house January 22 this year allegedly because she had failed to get justice.
Following this, the Chief Minister ordered a judicial probe into the incident February 7.
PNN