Koraput: Koraput district judge Bidyut Kumar Mishra, who heads the commission of inquiry that is investigating the alleged gang-rape of a minor scheduled caste girl in Kunduli, visited her home on Sunday.

"We spoke to the girl's mother at their home and gathered necessary information," said Prabhakar Patnaik, the public prosecutor who had accompanied the commission.

Later, the commission visited the spot where the girl was allegedly gang-raped as well as her school.

The Class-IX girl, who was allegedly gang-raped by four men in camouflage on October 10, 2017, committed suicide on January 22.

While chief minister Naveen Patnaik had ordered a judicial probe into the incident on November 8 through a gazette notification issued on January 8, the government has formed the commission of inquiry and appointed the Koraput district judge as its chief.

Since formation, this was the first time the commission visited the girl's village.

However, the police, citing the medical reports of the girl, have maintained that she was not gang-raped.

Orissa High Court on April 11 had issued notices to the government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) asking them to file replies to petitions seeking a CBI probe into the alleged gang-rape.

Houses gutted

Two thatched houses were gutted in a fire at Jharapati village in Marshaghai police limits in Kendrapara on Sunday. The fire occurred from a suspected short-circuit. Those living in the houses, however, escaped unhurt. Block and tehsil officials rushed to the site and extended financial help to the affected families from the District Red Cross Society grants.