Ranpur: Crime Branch officials in a joint operation with Nayagarh police busted a murder mystery after 23 months and arrested three persons and detained two others including a woman for the murders of four family members at Shastri Nagar under Chandpur police outpost limits in Nayagarh district September 6, 2014.
Crime Branch IG Asit Panigrahy and Nayagarh SP K Vishal Singh interrogated the detainees at Etamati police station.
Apprehending a law and order situation, two platoons of police forces were deployed. Saranakul sub-divisional police officer T Jaga Rao Reddy, Ranpur IIC Rashmi Ranjan Pattanik, Saranakul IIC Manoj Satapathy, inspector P K Dash, and DSP Satish Padhi were present.
According to the case diary, miscreants reportedly looted a person’s house at Champagarh village July. Mobile phones and gold ornaments were looted from the house.
Police suspected links between the Chandpur murders and the loot case and began an investigation. Later, police conducted raids at Aenthaban village under Kodala police limits in Ganjam district.
They arrested K Santosh (30) August 7 who revealed details of the murder case during police interrogation. Acting on Santosh’s inputs, police arrested A Ramesh (28), J Jayakrushna (30) of Aenthaban in Ganjam district and Krusta Dash (45) of Kalanara village in Jajpur district Friday.
The trio during interrogation confessed to have committed the burglary and murders at the behest of P Bobby of Aenthabana village. However, P Bobby could not be arrested as he died eight months back.
Sources said Bobby was in an affair with a married woman named Mamata Behera of Tangi in Khurda district. They burgled Kashinath Patra’s house to commit a loot September 6, 2014. However, Patra’s family member spotted them and shouted for help.
Afraid of being caught, they slit the throats of four persons including two minors, police said.
The deceased were identified as Kashinath Patra (68), his daughter-in-law Suchitra Patra (27), grandson Sagar (3) and grand-daughter Sagarika (9). Later, they looted gold ornaments and sarees from the house and fled. Bobby took the gold ornaments and sarees and gave it to Mamata and her brother Pradeep Behera. Since then, Bobby went absconding and hid in his village of Aenthabana. However, he died eight months back, sources said.
The incident led to massive protests in which a youth was killed in police firing. Then Nayagarh SP Niti Sekhar was transferred while Ranpur and Chandpur IICs were suspended.
Police had earlier declared a cash reward of `50,000 to anybody who could offer information on the murders. Later, CM Naveen Patnaik ordered an RDC-level investigation by the Crime Branch September 9, 2014. Later, Crime Branch launched its investigation. PNN
