Bhadrak: Eight people including prime accused Sarmistha Rout and former director of Information and Public Relations (I&PR) department Niranjan Sethi were Friday produced in Chandbali court in Bhadrak district in connection with cameraman Manas Swain’s murder case.
The eight accused were brought from Bhadrak jail amid tight security and produced before the court. Heavy police personnel were deployed in the court to avoid any untoward incident.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 2, reports said.
The court directed the Crime Branch to gather more evidence in the case. Earlier, Niranjan had confessed before the Crime Branch that he had helped Sarmistha Rout. He used to regularly visit Dayal Ashram and Sampoorna office.
Worth mentioning, Manas, a resident of Godipokhari village in Ranpur area of Nayagarh district, was allegedly kidnapped from Bhadrak district February 7. He was working as a cameraman ‘Sampoorna’.
It is said that Swain was asked to return a memory chip and was severely beaten up before his death. He was murdered at Dayal Ashram in Bhubaneswar, where the web channel was being operated, and his body was later dumped in his hometown.
On March 12, police exhumed his body from Badhipatna hills in Nayagarh district, a month after he went missing from Chandbali area in Bhadrak district.
