Bhubaneswar: Police on Monday registered a case against the manager and dance master of a jatra troupe for allegedly molesting an 18-year-old dancer.

The troupe, which is expected to be launched in a month or two, is training its artistes at Kaimatia in Jatni police limits on the outskirts of the city.

The police said the teen hailing from Jagatsinghpur district had joined the troupe three months ago. "She claimed that troupe manager Kanhu Swain and dance master Muna Biswal asked her to come to a room on Wednesday. The teen also claimed that later both of them locked the door and molested her despite protest," said a police official.

The police said the teen had then threatened to raise alarm after which the accused let her go. "The girl intimated the matter to her mother, who immediately came to Bhubaneswar. The accused duo tried to convince her not to lodge a police complaint," he said.

The police said the girl also alleged that the duo had molested another woman in similar fashion. "The girl told us that the duo had also molested another woman a few weeks ago, after which she left the troupe. We have recorded her statement," said the police official.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said a case had been registered against the duo under several sections, including sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code. "We are trying to nab the accused. We will also record the statement of other artistes of the troupe," said Sahoo.

In June 2016, the police had arrested Odia comedian Tatwa Prakash Satpathy aka Pappu Pom Pom and his associate, Pradipta Kumar Swain, on charges of promoting casting couch and harassing a girl sexually. The incident had created a lot of hue and cry in the Odia cine industry. After that several similar cases surfaced in the industry. The actor was subsequently granted bail.

Fraud cuffs

The economic offences wing (EoW) of Crime Branch on Monday arrested Niranjan Satpathy, 57, in connection with an alleged bank loan fraud case worth more than Rs 2 crore in 2009.

The accused, along with several others, had fraudulently obtained a loan from the Nayasarak branch of Allahabad Bank in Cuttack district. An EoW sleuth said they had withdrawn Rs 3 lakh each from the bank under its Sarala Loan Scheme by pretending to be employees of the chief engineer's office (drainage division) in Cuttack.