Ranchi: Jharkhand police on Wednesday arrested suspended BJP leader Seema Patra, wife of a retired IAS officer, on allegations of torturing her 29-year-old tribal help Sunita. Acting on a tip-off from a government employee, the Ranchi Police had rescued the woman from Patra’s residence last week and recorded the domestic help’ statement on Tuesday before a magistrate. Patra was caught after her son revealed the horrific abuse to his friend, a government officer, and asked for help.
Patra had allegedly kept the woman captive in her residence in Ranchi’s posh Ashok Nagar area for several years. Patra was suspended by BJP after a video of the woman, Sunita, narrating her ordeal, went viral on social media with demands for Patra’s arrest.
In a viral video, Sunita, who was seen lying on a hospital bed with injury marks on her body and face, accused the suspended BJP leader of holding her captive and brutally torturing her. Sunita also alleged that Patra thrashed her regularly and also broke her teeth with an iron rod. She was also made to lick urine off the floor and was not given food for days.
“She also broke my teeth with an iron rod,” Sunita said. She said that she not given food or water for days. It was Patra’s son Ayushman who saved her, she said. “It is only because of him that I am alive,” she said in the video, weeping.
Governor Ramesh Bais too on Tuesday asked DGP Neeraj Sinha as to why no action has been taken against suspended BJP leader. Members of various tribal outfits visited Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where the woman is undergoing treatment and met her on Tuesday.
