Jajpur, May 9: Jajpur Road police arrested a 31-year-old man on Monday and forwarded him to court for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl, who happened to be his distant relative.

The accused, identified as Babuli Tarei, 31, of Rachhipur Talasahi village, has been booked under sections 328 (drugging) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused was remanded in judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected.

According to the complaint filed with the police, Babuli, who is married and has two children, had lured the victim on the pretext of giving her prasad of Sanidev at his relative’s house on Saturday night.

The accused sprayed some intoxicating substance into her nose and when she fell unconscious, he raped her.

The girl escaped after regaining consciousness. She narrated the whole incident to her mother and she lodged a complaint with the local police.

“He had been a regular visitor to our house as a distant relative. We allowed our daughter to go with him to bring Sanidev’s prasad. We never thought that he had such a motive,” said the victim’s father.

The girl’s father said Babuli had threatened her daughter with dire consequences if she told her family members of the rape.

“After discussing with our relatives, we lodged the complaint with the police late last night,” he said, adding that an exemplary punishment should be given to the culprit.

Acting on a complaint of the victim, the police began a manhunt and detained the accused from Rachhipur.

Both the victim and the accused were then taken to the district headquarters hospital at Jajpur town for medical examination to confirm the rape.

“We arrested the accused after the medical report of the victim confirmed rape,” said Aswini Kumar Sahu, inspector-in-charge of Jajpur Road police station.

The police said the victim had not immediately lodged a complaint of rape following some villagers’ intervention. When their attempt to settle the matter amicably did not work out, they approached the police, a day after the crime.

“In an attempt to avoid litigation, the villagers wanted to settle the matter amicably. But, the accused did not turn up at the village meet, only then did they decide to lodge a complaint with police,” said Sahu.