3 min readBhubaneswarUpdated: Aug 13, 2026 02:42 AM IST
A woman was allegedly gang-raped by a group of at least six men after the car in which she was travelling with a friend was stopped late on Tuesday night in Odisha‘s Cuttack district, said police.
The incident occurred on Cuttack-Chandbali road when the victim and her male friend were travelling from Bhubaneswar to Kendrapada.
Police said that on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, the accused waylaid the car in which the victim and her friend were travelling, forced the duo to stop the vehicle, thrashed the man before gang-raping the woman.
The group then fled the spot.
Police said the victim, in her 30s, and her male friend are colleagues at a firm in Bhubaneswar.
According to Cuttack Superintendent of Police (SP), Rural, Vinit Agrawal, the victim approached the police early on Wednesday morning following which a case was registered. A serious offence has been committed, said the SP.
Arrests soon: Police
“All the procedures have been followed. A senior police officer of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) rank has been assigned to lead the investigation. Multiple teams have been formed to trace and arrest the accused. We are hopeful that they will be arrested soon,” Agrawal told The Indian Express.
Police said they also seized the vehicle in which the victim and her friend were travelling to collect the evidence. Forensic experts have also been deployed at the crime scene to collect physical evidence, they said.
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The condition of the victim is stable and she has been receiving necessary medical care and counselling, said the police.
Rape cases in Odisha
According to a White Paper published by Odisha’s home department in March, 2,994 rape cases were reported in 2025. Police said by the end of last year, charge sheets were filed in 1930 cases. In 2024, 3,054 rape cases were reported.
Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi, in a written report to the state Assembly in March this year, stated that as many as 53,000 cases of crime against women were reported in Odisha between June 2024 and March 7, 2026 (the period after BJP assumed power in the state).
The CM had stated that 4,713 cases of rape and 212 cases of attempt to rape were recorded during the period.