Odisha engineer arrested for raping, blackmailing woman

Kendrapara: A 29-year-old engineer was arrested in Odisha’s Kendrapara district on Sunday for allegedly raping and blackmailing a woman, police said.

The assistant engineer of the District Rural Development Agency had befriended a 25-year-old married woman and allegedly drugged, raped and taken obscene photographs of her two months back, an officer said.

He later used the photographs to blackmail the woman, Aul police station Inspector Salila Pradhan said.

Based on the woman’s police complaint, he was arrested and both were medically examined at a hospital, Pradhan said.

He has been booked under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 of the Information and Technology Act and Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.

The accused has been remanded to judicial custody, the officer added.