Kerala cops snare vanished 'rapist' - Calcutta Telegraph

The man suspected to be Bitti Mohanty being taken into custody in Kannur on Saturday. (PTI) March 9: Kerala police today arrested a man they suspect is Bitti Mohanty, an absconding rape convict whose father's career as an Odisha IPS officer suffered after he jumped parole and disappeared over six years ago. The man, who police said was working as a probationary officer with a public sector bank since June 2012, was picked up from Kannur, north Kerala, last night. He was produced before a magistrate's court this evening and remanded in judicial custody. Bitti, jailed for seven years in April 2006, has been missing since December 4 that year, when he jumped parole after being convicted of raping a German national in a hotel room in Alwar, Rajasthan. Then 25, Bitti, who was studying for an MBA degree in Delhi, had accompanied the victim, a research scholar, to Rajasthan. The victim had called a friend in Delhi, who alerted the external affairs ministry. Bitti was arrested from a train while returning to the national capital. The person arrested in Kerala, police sources said, was working as a probationary officer with State Bank of Travancore in Madayi under the name Raghav Rajan, from Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh. Kerala police were still waiting for word from their counterparts in Rajasthan, where Bitti was convicted and sentenced. "Kerala police informed us about his arrest and have ascertained his identity as Bitti Mohanty," Jaipur police commissioner B.L. Soni told The Telegraph. "Once our officers reach there with the relevant case files and documents concerned, we will reconfirm his identity." In Bhubaneswar, Bitti's family members clammed up after news of the arrest in Kannur became public. His father B.B. Mohanty couldn't be reached since morning. Bitti's disappearance on November 20, 2006 — after being released from Jaipur central jail on a 15-day parole to see his ailing mother in Cuttack — had a direct impact on the career of the senior Mohanty. The 1972-batch IPS officer, who retired in 2010 as director-general of police (fire services), could easily have reached the top of the police hierarchy. Known as an upright officer, Mohanty was put under suspension in August 2007 after a Rajasthan court issued a non-bailable warrant against him in connection with the parole jump. Although the suspension was revoked in May 2009, the damage had been done. Soni did not explain on what basis the arrested man's identity had been "ascertained" to be that of Bitti. What makes it tricky for the cops is that the man has a passport, a voter's ID card and an MBA degree from a college under Kannur University — all in the name of Raghav Ranjan. Sources, however, said identification of body marks on the basis of his prison records had "established that he was Bitti". The arrest followed a complaint from the bank, which said it doubted the identity of the employee. The complaint followed an anonymous letter to its deputy general manager that claimed Bitti was impersonating as Ranjan. Bank PRO Ranji Thomas said the man had joined in June 2012 after clearing the exam for probationers, which can be taken till the age of 30, and interview conducted by the SBI Central Recruitment Board. "Three days ago, we received an anonymous complaint which said he was, in fact, Bitti. Initially we did some preliminary checks on our own with photos available on the web. We also cross-checked with the two references cited in his resume. It strengthened our doubts and we met the state (Kerala) DGP day before yesterday and lodged a complaint." via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNG8nTds51QuODMjHe6I3WDD5bGalQ&url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130310/jsp/nation/story_16654737.jsp

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