Vivek Anand Baske who helped save the domestic help
Ranchi:
Suspended Jharkhand BJP leader Seema Patra, arrested for torturing her domestic help, was exposed after her son informed a friend, who went to the police.
Upset over the misbehavior of the woman, Ayushmann Patra went to his friend Vivek Anand Baske, a government official.
On August 2, Vivek Baske got a call from his friend, who said that there is a tribal girl at his house who needs to be rescued.
“It was around 1:15 at midnight on 2nd August. He called me and his voice was very loud. He was telling me, Baske, please save that girl. He said that Seema Patra was horrifyingly assaulting her. It was way,” Vivek Baske told NDTV.
“The mother also called at the same time, saying that her son Ayushmann is not in a good mental state and is turning violent and everything. And you need to do something,” Mr. Baski said.
On reaching his house, Mr Baski said he was not allowed inside.
Seema Patra denied any interaction with Mr Baske.
The friend, now the complainant, alleges that sending her son Ayushmann to a mental health institute may have been an attempt to protect himself.
But Sunita Khaka, a 29-year-old assistant who was beaten up, starved and even forced to lick urine from the floor, says it saved her life.
“As a responsible citizen, it was my moral duty to save that woman,” Mr Baski said.
Ayushmann and Vivek Baske went to Ranchi’s engineering college together and reunited nearly a decade ago.
Ayushmann also shared pictures on WhatsApp, which left Mr Baski cold inside, and convinced him to approach the police against a powerful politician.
“This led to my wife and I discussing. That something is going on. Ayushmann was helpless or whatever it was and wanted me to save him,” Mr. Baski said.
The domestic help was saved in the second attempt.
Seema Patra was arrested this morning, a day after a video of unspeakable harassment by her employee went viral.
The BJP leader reportedly admitted his son to Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences after he came to know that he was trying to help Sunita.
When asked why he admitted his son, he told NDTV that he had sent him to the hospital as he was unwell.
Asked if she had admitted Ayushmann to the hospital to expose his horrific abuse of help, Ms Patra said: “I will answer all questions. You will have to wait.”
He insisted that he was innocent. “I have been framed. It is political,” she said.
Ms. Baski responded to Ms. Patra’s allegations, saying, “Not at all. We did it very quietly.” They said that they knew that her husband Maheshwar Patra is a retired IAS officer.
When asked for an answer about the woman being injured, Ms Patra said: “I am innocent.”
After evicting the 29-year-old woman from Patra’s house, the police took her to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for treatment, officials said.