Cuttack: Having failed to extract any fresh information on the mysterious death of album and cine actor Ranajit Patnaik alias Raja from television actress Pralipta Priyadarshini Samal alias Jessi, programme coordinator Pralay Jena and driver Dhaneswar Behera, police now plan to seek judicial permission to conduct polygraph tests on the trio.
A special police team constituted to investigate the case Saturday interrogated the trio who had accompanied Raja (38) on the fateful night, but no fresh leads could be found from the interrogation. The three people simply kept repeating their earlier statements, police sources said.
After Jessi, Pralay and Dhaneswar deposed before Soro police at around 10 am Saturday, they were interrogated for hours by a special team comprising Remuna IIC Sudarshan Das, Balasore Industrial Estate IIC Paresh Rout, Soro IIC Parsuram Sahu, SIs Prasanta Kumar Jena, Mandakini Mohanty and Badri Shankar Senda.
The police team grilled Jessi, Pralay and Dhaneswar individually. Although Jessi, who was earlier interrogated in presence of her mother, admitted her relationship with Raja, she denied any plan of marrying him. She said they had an argument inside the car while returning from the stage show over their fees.
“While the organisers paid me Rs 27,000 for the stage show as per the agreement, Raja was given Rs 3,000, and he was upset over it. When I asked him why he went to the stage show without finalising his fee, it triggered an argument between us,” Jessi is said to have told police.
Although during her first interrogation she had denied having attempted suicide in the car, she admitted it this time. Jessi, however, brushed aside her alleged closeness with Tushar, another television actor.
After interrogating the trio individually, police grilled them together. At the end of a three-hour interrogation, the special police team took the trio to Chaparpada Bridge over Kansabansa River where the incident took place and asked them to give a demo of the incident.
The trio was then brought to Soro police station and released on personal bonds. “We have recorded their statements. They have been asked to appear before us for investigation whenever required,” said inspector-in-charge of Soro police station, Parsuram Sahu. PNN
