Bhubaneswar: Even as people across the state slammed the mob justice that resulted in the lynching of Soumya Ranjan Swain for the alleged rape bid on a 24-year-old woman on Thursday, the survivor defended the crowd action, calling them ‘saviours’.Railway constable Swain’s (32) hands and feet were tied to a pole and beaten to death, videos of which went viral, sparking shock and outrage even as friends of the deceased called his death a “conspiracy”.Talking to the media, the woman said, “Had the villagers not intervened, he would have raped and killed me. I am alive only because of them (mob). Police should not arrest them.”Friends of Swain, who was also a part-time fitness instructor, dismissed her allegations. “Nobody would dare to assault a woman in broad daylight sexually. The woman is lying and hiding something. Police should uncover the true sequence of events. It appears to be a conspiracy,” said Santosh Mohanty, a friend.According to the woman’s account, she and her friend were on their way to a relative’s place on a scooter around 10 am when two men — later identified as Swain and his aide Om Prakash Rout — arrived from the opposite direction on a two-wheeler.“One of them passed lewd comments and shouted at us while passing by. They then turned back, rammed our scooter from behind, as a result we fell and sustained injuries. Swain then hit me on my head, tore my clothes, and tried to rape and kill me. He even threatened to abduct and take me to his room,” she alleged, adding that she lost consciousness during the assault.Her friend raised an alarm, drawing the attention of passers-by. Local residents rushed the women to a hospital, from where the survivor was discharged after initial treatment.Talking about the viral footage showing Swain tied to a pole and being beaten up, the survivor claimed he did not die of the assault, contradicting her earlier statement that she was unconscious. “Some local residents only slapped him for unruly behaviour. He was alive when the police arrived. He may have died due to an underlying condition. The postmortem will confirm the cause,” she claimed.
