Former chief minister Naveen Patnaik has demanded a court-monitored probe and a judicial inquiry into Odisha police's purported harassment of an army captain and his fiancée, whom they allegedly stripped, molested and tortured.

The woman says the inspector in charge of Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar exposed his genitals before her. The army captain, who says the police locked him up, has alleged that he later found his fiancée "in a half-naked state, with hands and legs tied, and bleeding".

Her jaw was dislocated, the officer, from the 22 Sikh Regiment and posted in Calcutta, added.

The army has written to the chief justice of Orissa High Court seeking an impartial investigation and prompt action.

"I demand a court-monitored SIT (special investigation team) probe and a judicial inquiry," Naveen said, adding that the incident had "shaken the conscience of the country".

"During our government we had the system of Mo Sarkar in which the chief minister, ministers and senior officers would call citizens for feedback on their visits to government offices, including police stations and hospitals, (seeking to know) whether they were treated with dignity and professional conduct," Naveen said.

"This BJP government has stopped the... Mo Sarkar and the consequences are visible."

Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi broke his silence on Friday and said his government was taking all steps to punish the culprits.

The male inspector, a male constable, a woman sub-inspector, and two women assistant sub-inspectors have been suspended and are being probed by the Odisha crime branch.

The crime branch has also detained seven people who had allegedly intercepted the army captain’s car while he and his fiancée were returning from the woman’s workplace around 1.30am on September 15 (Sunday), passed lewd remarks and assaulted them. The captain was visiting Bhubaneswar on leave.

When the couple approached the police after the incident, their ordeal worsened.

"The police got irritated when I started making a video of the incident using my mobile phone, showing their reluctance to act. They put me illegally inside a cell," the captain told The Telegraph.

"When I was released from the lockup after about four hours, I found (the fiancée) in a half-naked state, with hands and legs tied, and bleeding."

The woman told reporters she was tortured when she objected to the police locking up an army officer. She alleged the police tied her up with her jacket and put her in a separate lockup.

"After some time, a male officer opened the door and kicked me in the breast several times," she said, adding that the inspector in charge made obscene gestures, flashing his genitals at her.

While the Bharatpur police released the army officer on Sunday, they arrested the woman on charges of assaulting the police in a drunken state. She was produced in court on Monday and sent to jail custody. She received bail from Orissa High Court on Wednesday and was freed on Thursday.

She was discharged from AIIMS Bhubaneswar on Friday evening after treatment for a dislocated jaw, the captain said.

Army letter

In a letter to high court Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh, the army has said "the prestige of a serving army officer was demeaned and the modesty and dignity of his fiancée, who also happens to be the daughter of a retired brigadier, was grossly outraged by the police authorities".

"They not only humiliated the lady but also molested her and also disrespected the army officer…" Lieutenant General P.S. Shekhawat, General Officer Commanding, Madhya Bharat Area, wrote.

"…A(n) FIR was framed against the lady. In addition, the lady was sexually abused and manhandled."

Shekhawat underlined that Bharatpur police station had not installed any CCTV, violating the Supreme Court’s directions.

"Her medical examination was done at (the private) SUM Hospital which indicates reasonable injuries, but a subsequent medical done at the (government-run) Capital Hospital (in) Bhubaneswar was manipulated and… shows no such injuries," he wrote.

"The manipulated medical reports were produced before the judicial magistrate, thus forging evidence as well as misleading the judiciary…. The jail doctor too diagnosed suspected fracture of jaw but the jail authorities paid no heed to his advice."