Bitti's father quizzed by Kerala police

CUTTACK: Former Odisha DGP B B Mahanti was today quizzed by a special investigative team (SIT) of Kerala police probing impersonation and forgery charges against his German rape case convict son Bitihotra Mahanti.

Before questioning the retired IPS officer, the four- member Kerala police SIT met the present Director General of Police Prakash Mishra at the state police headquarters here and apprised him of the case following the arrest of a man Raghav Rajan at Kannur who police claimed was Bitihotra alias Bitti, Odisha police said.

Instead of questioning Mahanti at his residence, the Kerala police team asked him to come to the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) here for interrogation.

The investigating team was seeking clarification whether Mahanti was aware about Bitihotra's stay at Kannur in Kerala before his arrest on March 8, the police said.

The Kerala team, which yesterday visited three educational institutions in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where Bitihotra studied during his school and college days, have come to the conclusion that the certificates produced in the name of Raghav Rajan are forged.

The certificates bearing same number have been forged and the name Raghav Rajan has been inserted in place of Bitihotra. The private university, college and school authorities have also informed the visiting police team that they never had any student in the name of Raghav Rajan.

Bitihotra, convicted for raping a German woman, had allegedly forged his certificates and worked as a probationary officer using the name Raghav Rajan at a public sector bank at Kannur in Kerala before being arrested.

Though police claimed that the person arrested was in fact Bitihotra, who had jumped parole in December 2006 from Alwar jail in Rajasthan, the person concered denied it claiming that he was Raghav Rajan, a son of Rajiv Rajan of Andhra Pradesh.