Bhubaneswar: In a shocking incident, an unknown masked miscreant allegedly sexually assaulted a 26-year-old woman engineer at gunpoint in an apartment under the Nayapalli police station area in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday night, the Commissionerate Police said on Thursday. 

The cops launched an investigation after registering a case on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim.

Police sources stated the victim, who reportedly hails from Jagatsinghpur district, is working as an engineer with a private company in Bhubaneswar. She was staying along with her elder sister in an apartment in the Nayapalli area of the city.

After receiving the information about the incident, senior police officers, including the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar, Saravana Vivek M, rushed to the spot and started the investigation.

“Last night, a 26-year-old woman reported at the police station that when she was in her rented apartment, an unknown person came there and raped her. The victim lives along with her elder sister, and the owners live on the first floor. The accused allegedly showed a gun/toy gun,” the twin city police said.

A senior police official said that the victim’s statement has been recorded, and her medical examination is being conducted. Police have also been examining CCTV footage from the spot and adjoining areas in Nayapalli.

Meanwhile, the locals also expressed shock over the incident and demanded that the police and local administration arrest the culprit at the earliest and ensure stringent punishment. They demanded increased police patrolling in the locality to prevent such crimes from recurring in the future.

Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, in his response to a query in the assembly, recently informed that 1606 rape cases have been recorded in the state between January 1 and July 31 in 2026.

According to the data shared in the assembly, as many as 21,069 cases in connection with various crimes against women have been registered across the state during the said period.