Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporator Amaresh Jena has been arrested in connection with a rape case following a manhunt that ended in Nilagiri, where he had been hiding for several days.
According to police, a 19-year-old woman lodged a complaint at the Laxmisagar Police Station on July 23, 2025, alleging that Jena had been sexually exploiting her since September 2023, when she was still a minor. The survivor claimed that Jena lured her with false promises of marriage after divorcing his wife. In February 2024, he allegedly coerced her into undergoing an abortion after she became two months pregnant. The complaint further states that Jena threatened her with harm if she pursued legal action.
Jena, a prominent BJD leader, was booked under the BNS sections 64(2) (rape), 89 (committing miscarriage without woman’s permission), 296 (obscene act), and 352 (criminal intimidation), besides section 6 of the POCSO Act, at the Laxmisagar police station, where the survivor lodged a complaint on Wednesday, the police said.
Earlier on Saturday, the police arrested five associates of Jena. The five arrested individuals hail from various parts of Khurda and Jagatsinghpur districts, and were forwarded to judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected, they said.
