Bhubaneswar, Oct 18 (PTI) An accused allegedly involved in the abduction of a lady teacher escaped from Titlagarh police barrack leading to the suspension of three personnel of the force on Monday and a slugfest among political parties with the opposition demanding the resignation of Odisha minister of state for home.

Also Read | New Apple MacBook Pro Models Powered by M1 Pro, M1 Max Chips Launched in India; Check Prices, Availability & Specifications.

The Bolangir district police suspended three of its personnel on charge of dereliction in duty after the accused escaped from the Titlagarh barrack on Sunday night.

Also Read | Apple 3rd-Gen AirPods Launched in India at Rs 18,900; New HomePod Mini at Rs 9,900.

The opposition BJP and Congress alleged that the accused is a close aide of D S Mishra, the minister of state for home, and was allowed to flee from the police custody. He was kept in detention for three days and had not been produced in court.

Mishra when contacted said anyone who is found guilty will be punished.

The accused, who is the president of a private English medium school management committe and a private college in Kalahandi district, was detained in the police barrack since October 14 in the kidnapping case. He was booked under section 366 of the IPC (kidnapping a woman to compel her to marry or to cause her defilement)

Reacting on the demand for his resignation, Mishra said that the law will take its own course in the case.

“We have full faith in the system. Anyone found guilty will be punished,” he said.

“We have placed three personnel on suspension after an accused escaped from the police custody. Separate teams have been formed to locate the accused,” Bolangir SP Kauslkar Nitin Dagudu told reporters.

The lady teacher had gone missing since October 8 and her family members had lodged a complaint with the police accusing the man of kidnapping her. Based on the complaint, the man was picked up on October 14 by the police but was not arrested or produced before the court.

“Why did the police detain the accused person for three days? It is because of it he could manage to escape,” said Kalahandi MP Basant Panda.

Demanding Mishra's resignation, Panda, tho belongs to the BJP, alleged that the minister is protecting the accused for which he was not forwarded to the court. "The police let him go scot free," he said.

Congress MLA S S Saluja alleged that the minister was "hand in gloves" with the accused.

“We demand the minister's resignation and the arrest of the accused. We demand that the lady teacher be brought back at her home,” Saluja said.

Leader of Opposition, P K Naik too demanded Mishra's resignation. “The minister should resign on moral grounds as he is suspected to have links with the accused. Otherwise we cannot expect a fair probe from the police,” he said.

Spokesperson of the ruling BJD, Lenin Mohanty said “The matter is sensitive and under investigation. BJP and Congress should desist from playing cheap politics on such sensitive issues.”

The teacher's family had in their complaint alleged that the man had forced many women employees of the school to enter into illicit relationship with him and that he is directly involved in her abduction as she had threatened to expose him.

The family members also claimed that she was abducted in a car from Chandatora Chhak in Bolangir on October 8 morning when she was on her way to the school from Jharani, her village under Tureikela police limits. When she did not return home in the evening, her family members inquired about her from the school.

An audio clip of a conversation between a colleague of the lady teacher and her brother has gone viral. In the clip the colleague can be heard speaking about the accused sexually harassing the woman employees of the school.

The brother claimed that the Bolangir sadar sub-divisional police officer had apprised him of the status of investigation on Sunday and told him that the accused would be sent to Bhubaneswar for a polygraph test at the State Forensic Science Laboratory.

“But this morning, we came to know that he has escaped from police custody,” the brother said.

Meanwhile, the police have formed eight special teams of Balangir, Nuapada and Kalahandi police to trace the teacher. She is yet to be found even 11 days after her abduction.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)