5 hours agoWriter: Rajesh Sahu
A family consisting of husband and wife and a 6-month-old child was evicted from the village. He had left the village and crossed the river when 8 people reached. Handing over the child to the husband, the woman said – run away with it. Husband ran. People caught the wife. Gang raped and murdered. The High Court acquitted all. The 15th and last story of the Murder Mystery series is from Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha. The entire government was involved in this incident to save the accused. Let’s know from the beginning.
(In 2019, a film was made in the Odia film industry on the Chhabirani gang rape and murder case. In this news, we have put photos of the characters of the same film.)
Used to live with a rented room, fell in love with the sister of the owner
This story is from 1977. Chhabirani lived in Puri with her family. His elder brother Krishna Balaram of Puri used to work as in-charge in the Math. Chhabi’s family was from Midnapore in West Bengal. The parents spoke Bengali, but had learned Odia while living in Puri. Between 1976-77, Nabakishore Mohapatra had reached Puri to study Sanskrit from Dhiyashahi village in Bhubaneswar. Required room to rent. Found in Chhabirani’s house.
Bobby Islam made a film on Chhabirani case in 2019. The full story of Chhabi Rani is told in this film. The language of the film is Odia.
Nabakishore and Chhabirani fell in love during their stay for about a year. When Chhabi’s family came to know about this, they first objected, because the teenager was unemployed, but later they agreed. The two got married in a wedding at the famous Jagannath Temple in Puri. Now the first challenge was to do some work to support the family. Kishore Mohapatra came to his village Dhiyashahi with his wife Chhabirani.
While distributing the newspaper, Kishore and Chhabi started writing in the newspaper
Kishore came to his village, but he had no idea what to do. Some people suggested that you take the agency of the newspaper. Kishore understood this. He settled in Biridi with his wife. Newspapers coming from Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar and other states came to Kishor’s agency, after that he used to reach people’s homes from here. This work was done by the teenagers themselves. Chhabi was educated, so she also used to help in the work of the agency.
Actress Chandrani played the role of Chhabirani in the biopic. His acting was such that everyone felt the pain of Chhabirani.
Due to his constant association with the newspaper, he used to stay updated with Kishore and Chhabi news. Slowly both of them started writing news. At the same time Pragatibari newspaper was started in Bhubaneswar. Nabakishore joined the newspaper. Got the post Correspondent. On the other hand Chhabirani had also learned everything. She joined the Durmukha newspaper of Cuttack. During this, Dani Mohapatra came to this world as the third happiness. After a year and a half of marriage, Kishore became a father.
Wrote news against the seller by mixing ash in cement
Nabakishore was not one to be afraid. He wrote the news against the richest man of Biridi, Rajurao Dora. It is written in the news, Raju Dora sells cement mixed with ashes. The free food grains that come to the poor from the Orissa government do not allow it to reach the needy. This news exposed the truth of Raju Dora. Raju used to give money to political parties, so with such news, his works started being discussed in politics.
If written against Congress leaders, then got them stolen in the house
In February 1980, the Janata Party government collapsed in Odisha. The Congress government was formed in the state on 9 June 1980. Janaki Ballabh Patnaik became the CM. Nabakishore was not affected by the formation of the government. He wrote the news against Biridi Congress President Diwakar Nayak and Working President Nanda Mohanty. After this news there was a theft in Naba’s house. Which he complained to the police. Against whom the case was written, all the Congress workers were there. The people of Congress started living against the news of Nabakishore and Chhabirani.
At that time Nanda Mohanty had a lot of name in the Biridi area. Nabakishore used to write against him. This photo is also from the same film.
beaten to the Congress office and then expelled from the village
On 3 October 1980, Chhabirani had to go to Durmukha’s office in Cuttack for her ID card. Chhabi had a 6-month-old child, so she could not leave her home. So Kishore Mohapatra also came out to help him. Were having breakfast sitting at a shop at 6.30 in the morning. Then 6 people came. One said- “Nanda Mohanty has called you Nabakishore, you reach his house by 7.30 pm.” When Chhabi talked about meeting in the evening, those people said, it will not be right.
Nanda Mohanty was a big name in the area at that time. Chhabi Rani said, “Come together. We will go to Cuttack some other day.” Nabakishore and Chhabi were about to reach their house when they all came again and started beating Kishore. While beating him, he took the teenager to Nanda Mohanty’s house. Nanda said, “Take it to the Congress office.” Everyone takes him to Biridi’s Congress office. There Mohanty beat the Naba fiercely and ordered, “You will leave this village today and go away.” The Naba pleaded with folded hands, “It is 5 o’clock in the evening, give me a break today, I will leave tomorrow.” But he didn’t agree.
Chhabi while holding the son to the Naba said, you run away, I swear to you
Naba reached home limping. When wife Chhabi saw his condition, she was shocked. Naba told the whole thing and said, we have to leave this village immediately. Chhabi picked up some essentials and left the house. At 8 o’clock in the night, he reached the bank of the Biluakhai river on the edge of the village. Chhabi fed milk to her six-month-old son, Dara. Nabakishore washed his hands and face in the river. After this, both reached the other side through a wooden bridge built on the river. Then some people were seen coming from behind.
Chhavi understood the danger. He handed over the son to the Naba and said, “You run away with Dara.” The Naba said, “No, I cannot leave you.” Chhabi swore a child to the Naba. The Naba took the child and hid in a bush about 50 meters away. On the other hand, eight people arrived and caught Chhabi. Searched the Naba around but could not find him. After this, the eight of them started gang-raping Chhabi. Naba was watching all this, but he is not able to do anything. Then he ran there and reached the nearest village Kukundara.
Chhabirani was surrounded by eight and took turns raped and murdered. This cruelty is shown very minutely in the film.
When 200 people ran towards the river from the village, they were shocked to see the dead body.
The Naba reached the house of the head of the village of Kukundara. Told the whole thing. The chief knew the Naba. Immediately about 200 people gathered from the village and reached the bank of the river with sticks. There was image, but not alive. Her red-yellow sari was lying 5 feet away from the corpse. The whole body was full of wounds. The plucked hair was scattered. When Nabakishore saw this condition of Chhabi, he became breathless. He sat down holding his head. There was no sound coming out. People somehow handled it.
When the name of the Congress leader was shown, the inspector tore the FIR.
The people of the village reached the post office with Naba and at one o’clock in the night, the phone was dialed at Jagatsinghpur police station. The second officer picked up the phone. Naba told the whole thing. The officer said, we are reaching. It was eight o’clock in the morning but no one came. Nabakishore reached the station in-charge’s house directly in the badhawas hall. There, Bhubaneshwar’s SP Batakrishna Tripathi was sitting in century uniform. Naba told the whole thing. The SP said, “You reach the police station and get the report written, we will come.”
Naba got the names of eight people written in the FIR. It also had the name of Nanda Mohanty. The inspector asked the Naba to remove the name of Nanda Mohanty. Naba did not agree. The inspector tore the copy of the FIR in front of the SP. The Naba fled from there and again reached the dead body. About 24 hours passed but the reach did not pick up the body. When the villagers came to know about this, they set fire to Rajurao Dora’s house. For the first time, the police came on the back foot and picked up the dead body 36 hours after the incident.
Anand played the character of Nabakishore in the film Chhabirani. He brought the pain of Naba perfectly on screen.
Kidnapped the Naba and gave such an injection that he could not get up for a month
The matter had become high profile due to the names of Congress leaders. The SSP kept him in custody, citing the threat to Naba’s life. One day he was going somewhere by bicycle when he was forcibly made to sit in the ambassador car. Took it to a secret place and got it signed on the blank page. Recorded an audio, in which Naba was told that Nanda Mohanty has no role in this matter. After this an injection was given, due to which he started vomiting blood. He lay in bed for months.
The police explained to the Naba that you will not speak against Nanda Mohanty in front of the magistrate. The Naba nodded yes, but as soon as he appeared before the magistrate he told all that had happened to his wife before his eyes. When the magistrate heard, he reprimanded the police and asked to register the case, but the police did not register the case even here. For three days the Naba continued to be explained. At that time he was lured to give 50 thousand rupees. He was again produced before the magistrate. The Naba repeated what he had said earlier.
The lower court sentenced all the accused to life imprisonment, but the High Court overturned
After the statement of Naba, the magistrate handed over the case to the crime branch. The Crime Branch registered a case against all the 8 accused and started investigation. In 1985, the Lower Court, while pronouncing the verdict, convicted all the 8 accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment. All of them challenged the decision of the lower court in the Odisha High Court. Many big lawyers of that time stood on behalf of Nanda Mohanty. The result was that in 1993 the High Court reversed the decision of the Lower Court and acquitted all.
In 2002, Supreme Court judge Krishna Chandra Kar convicted four of the eight accused and sentenced them to life imprisonment. He died on 25 August 2020 at the age of 90.
The Naba was defeated if the guilty were released, but some people came together and again the decision was reversed.
After the High Court’s decision, the Naba lost faith in the law. About one lakh rupees were spent on it. Those who were guilty started laughing. Then some people appeared. On behalf of Nabakishore, the case was brought to the Supreme Court. In 2002, Supreme Court Justice Krishna Chandra Kar held four of the eight accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. But, the Naba does not accept this decision also, because Nanda Mohanty, Rajurao Dora, Diwakar Nayak were acquitted. No policeman got any punishment. Naba says these are the people who ruined my entire family.
When this decision came, Naveen Patnaik’s government was in the state. CM gave Nabakishore Mohapatra the job of field assistant in Baharampur Forest. The child who was six months old in 1980 was Dani Mohapatra now 22 years old. The state government also gave him a job.
Dear Reader, This is the 15th and final story of the Murder Mystery Series. Soon we will bring something new and special in this episode of stories. Stay connected with Dainik Bhaskar.