Cuttack: Orissa High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the CBI on petitions seeking probe by the central investigating agency into the alleged Kunduli gang-rape incident, giving a new lease of life to the case that had shocked the state six months ago.

The court issued the notices a day after Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan demanded a CBI probe into the rape of the Kunduli girl and slammed the state government for failing to deliver justice to the victim, who allegedly committed suicide on January 22.

Pradhan made the demand after meeting members of family of the girl on Monday.

The incident that took place on October 10 last year involved the gang-rape of a minor girl allegedly by four uniformed personnel near Sorisapadar jungle. The class IX student of government welfare school of Musaguda village under Patangi police station limits had gone to Kunduli to get her Aadhaar card done.

After registering her biometrics for Aadhaar card, she was walking back home alone. On the way, four unidentified persons in police uniform dragged her to nearby jungle, raped her and left her there.

The court issued the notice to the CBI after taking up seven petitions on the Kunduli incident.

The notice was issued over four months after the superintendent of police, Koraput, had filed his response to a PIL that investigation into the alleged incident had not found any affirmative evidence of sexual assault.

Among the petitioners included former Lok Sabha MP Kharavela Swain, the girl's brother Bhagaban Chhati, her mother Damai Chhati and Bharatiya Bikash Parishad.

"The division bench of Chief Justice Vineet Saran and Justice B.R. Sarangi posted the petitions to May 3 for analogous hearing along with the response from the CBI," Swain's counsel Pitambar Acharya said.

"The bench, accordingly issued notice to the CBI to file a reply to the PIL by then," Acharya said.

Swain had filed a PIL on February 1 seeking CBI probe into the Kunduli case raising doubts over the ongoing investigation by the state crime branch police. On October 17, joint secretary of Berhampur's Bharatiya Bikash Parishad, Surya Narayan Behera, had filed a PIL seeking the court's intervention and direction to the state police to expedite investigation.

All the PILs had not been listed earlier, except the one filed by high court lawyer Gautam Siddique, on October 3 seeking probe by the CBI. Acting on it, the court had issued notice to the state government on November 3.

Subsequently, in an affidavit the superintendent of police, Koraput, told the high court that the special team constituted by him for probing the alleged gang-rape of the minor girl at Kunduli did not find any affirmative evidence of sexual assault.

In his affidavit filed on November 21, police chief of Koraput, Kanwar Vishal Singh, said: "The investigating officer had examined one witness named Papun alias Kartik Khara. As the witness is a minor, aged about 16 years, his statement has been recorded in the presence of district child protection officer and district legal protection officer and some other witnesses. In his statement he has totally negated the allegations of gang-rape as he was present during alleged incident".

In his affidavit Singh said: "Considering the gravity of allegations, I constituted/formed one special investigating Team consisting of V.R. Rao (additional SP Koraput), Narahari Nayak (DSP, Human Rights Protection Cell) and Mamata Panigrahi (Inspector, HRPC) for proper investigation of the case. Apart from SIT, one multi-assistance team was also formed consisting of five inspector and seven sub-inspectors".

A CID-Crime Branch probe is on following orders of the state government.

In his affidavit, Singh had attached copies of medical reports issued by doctors at the Kunduli public health centre and SLN Medical College and Hospital, Koraput, as well as doctors of MKCG Medical College & Hospital.

But the medical reports made no mention of injuries in the private parts of the girl and are either silent about rape or stated no evidence of sexual assault found.

A case under Sections 376 (D) and 377 of IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act had been registered against unknown persons.