Bhubaneswar: Police have launched a manhunt for a 58-year-old contractor for allegedly raping his 12-year-old maid at Chandrasekharpur here.

The survivor, a native of Balsore, managed to escape on Sunday evening.

The police said she was employed in the house eight days ago. "She told us that the owner used to ask her to come to his room and give him a massage. His wife and daughter stayed in another room," said a police officer.

"He raped her multiple times," the officer said.

The minor escaped from when the owner and his family members were not present. "She scaled the boundary wall and reached the nearest slum. She narrated her ordeal to the slum-dwellers, who accompanied her to the police station." The cops are trying to find the person who got her employed in the house.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said the police had registered a case under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Pocso Act. "We recorded her statement and conducted a medical examination. We are trying to nab the man," said Sahoo.

Child Welfare Committee member Benudhar Senapati said the girl was undergoing counselling sessions. "We have sent her to a shelter home at Kalinga Nagar. The incident has traumatised her and the counsellors are trying to return her to a normal state," said Senapati.

Bhubaneswar witnessed a 62 per cent increase in rape cases in 2017 compared to 2016. Official statistics suggest that the police registered 125 cases of rape here in 2017 against 77 in 2016. The data also revealed that 43 victims were majors, while the remaining 82 were minors.