Cuttack, Aug 13: A doctor has been arrested for allegedly raping two women patients at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack, police said on Tuesday.

The alleged incident took place on Sunday when the women had come to the cardiology department of the premier government hospital for an echocardiogram test.

Cuttack DCP Prakash R told PTI that the resident doctor was arrested on the charge of rape based on the complaint by the two women patients.

“The Mangalabag police station has received a written complaint from the two patients on Monday and a case was registered,” Cuttack Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Anil Mishra said.

The Health and Family Welfare Department has set up a three-member inquiry committee to probe into the allegations against the resident doctor.

The panel shall undertake a detailed inquiry and recommend appropriate action to the government, a notification issued by the department said.

The accused doctor had allegedly asked the two women to come for the test on Sunday instead of Friday, another police officer said.

The doctor was reportedly beaten up by some relatives of the patients, though Mishra said police have not received any formal complaint in this regard.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai, Sep 10: BJP leader Kirit Somaiya on Tuesday refused to take up the responsibility as "communication chief with the Election Commission of India for Maharashtra assembly polls", stating that he should have been consulted beforehand.

In a letter to Raosaheb Danve, chairman of the party's state election campaign committee, the former Mumbai MP termed the treatment given to him as 'insulting'.

"It is wrong to appoint me as communication chief with the Election Commission of India for Maharashtra assembly polls without even discussing it with me. I disapprove of it, but you can appoint someone else for that position," read the letter.

"I am not a member of this committee, and I request you and the state president (Chandrashekhar Bawankule) not to treat me such insultingly," Somaiya added.

The letter also touched on a period in the past when the BJP, then in alliance with the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, had to sideline Somaiya as he had targeted the Shiv Sena continually over alleged corruption in the Mumbai civic body. Having won in 2014, he was denied Lok Sabha ticket in 2019, as well as in 2024.

"I have been working as a humble party worker since February 18, 2019, when BJP leaders directed me to leave the joint press conference because of Uddhav Thackeray's insistence. I took the responsibility of exposing various corrupt practices of the then Uddhav Thackeray government and also survived three near-fatal attacks, but I did my duty," he said.

"I am satisfied with the affection I have received from you during these last five and a half years. I will continue to work for the party in the upcoming assembly elections," Somaiya added.

The former Mumbai MP later also posted a message on X, saying, "I thank BJP Maharashtra for appointing me as Member of Campaign Committee and expressed Regrets and inability to do the same. I am still an active and ordinary member of the BJP and will continue to do so, but I will not join the committee."

When asked for comment, state BJP chief Bawankule said, "Somaiya is our senior leader. It is a rule in the BJP that we do not ask anyone, we delegate responsibilities. The party did not discuss with me whether I wanted to become state chief or not. I was made state chief directly."