Bhubaneswar: A woman on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Mahila police station accusing a temple priest of molesting her and making a video of his act that he has made viral on different social media platforms.

According to the complaint, the woman was in distress and wanted some money by mortgaging her jewellery when she came into contact with the priest, identified as Saroj Kumar Das, who works at a temple at Laxmi Sagar. Das has not been arrested yet.

The priest had committed to help the victim and promised her to provide the required money in lieu of the gold ornaments. When the victim visited the house of the priest a few months ago with her jewellery, the priest allegedly took advantage of her situation.

According to the complaint, the priest allegedly drugged the victim by offering her a drink after which she became unconscious. The priest then took her to his bedroom, molested her, and shot her videos and pictures with him posing with her unconscious body. After the incident, the priest allegedly showed her the photos and video clips and tried to blackmail her into maintaining physical relationship with him. But, the brave woman did not budge. After several failed attempts to establish a physical relationship with her, Das threatened to make those videos viral.

"I do not know how and what had exactly happened as I lost my senses after drinking a glass of water offered by the priest. He tried to blackmail me by threatening to make the videos viral," she said.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Sahu said that the complaint had been registered and appropriate action would be taken. "We will investigate the matter and take appropriate action in due time," said Sahu. It is not the first time that the city has witnessed viral videos. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had informed the Assembly that cyber crime menace was on rise over the past few months.

According to records available with the police, the cyber cell of the Odisha Police has so far registered 31 cases of objectionable viral video in the last three months alone.

Interim bail for Biswal

Orissa High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail for two months to BJD's Choudwar-Cuttack MLA Pravat Biswal, whom the CBI had arrested on September 19, 2017, for his alleged links with Seashore Group, a major player in the multi-crore deposit collection scam in the state. Justice Biswanath Das granted him interim bail after the CBI failed to submit the updated case diary against Biswal and posted his bail petition to June 25 for hearing. The CBI had arrested the MLA while probing a deal between his wife Laxmi Bilasini Biswal and Seashore Group chairman-cum-managing director Prashant Dash over a plot of land in Jajpur.