Lingaraj Servitor Gets Jail Sentence for Sexually Assaulting Swedish Woman

Bhubaneswar: A court in Bhubaneswar convicted a servitor of the Lingaraj temple and sentenced him to undergo 18 months rigorous imprisonment for sexual misconduct with a foreign tourist at the shrine around a month back.

The court delivered the judgement within a month of the incident.

The 22-year-old convict Kanan Mohapatra alias Kundu of rhe Old Town area was arrested by police for sexually assaulting a 28-year-old female Sewidish tourist, who visited the Lingaraj temple on February 19.

The accused assured the victim to help her get a glimpse of the 11th- century shrine from the Lord Curzon Mandap tower adjacent to the boundary wall of Lingaraj temple, at the northern gate of the temple.

But Kanan took the woman to a small temple near the northern gate of the Lingaraj temple and sexually assaulted her.

Managing to escape from his clutches, the victim informed the guards and other servitors at the temple about the misconduct of Kanan.

Based on the complaint, personnel of the Shree Lingaraj police station filed a case and arrested the accused on February 20.

The police submitted the charge sheet on February 23. The trial started with the recording of the statements of seven witnesses, including the victim, on February 26 and the judgement was given on Monday after nearly a month. According to the Bhubaneswar Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Prateek Singh, a copy of the judgment will be sent to the victim through mail.