Anandapur: Even as electioneering heated up across the state, a group of about 15 people brutally hacked former Anandapur block chairman Ramchandra Behera to death late Monday night at Dhakotha under Ghasipura block in Keonjhar.
Behera had contested the 2014 polls as an independent. The murder has sent shock waves in the area. Reports said, four youths went to Behera’s home at 9 pm Monday. They held talks with him and had tea and soft drinks together. Then the four escorted Behera out of his home to talk to some people waiting outside.
As soon as Behera came out, over 15 people armed with sharp-edged weapons attacked him. They chopped off his palm and hacked his legs and back. The miscreants decamped with the chopped limb.
As Behera did not return home soon, his daughter Minarani Behera came out to see her father wreathing in a pool of blood. In critical condition, he was rushed to Anandapur hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Although the reason of his murder was not immediately clear, it was suspected that the murder could be an outcome of a previous or political enmity. Police rushed to the spot and seized the body.
The murder triggered tension in the village. Residents blocked NH-20 and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits and recovery of the missing palm.
Anandapur SDPO Bidyut Panda said an investigation is on and police forces were deployed in the village.
Meanwhile, police detained four suspects. Later, three of them were arrested. They were Ajit Prusty, Amulya Prusty and Sanjit Prusty.
Behera was a frontline leader of the Congress party in Anandapur. However, he along with his 5,000 supporters was to join the BJD Tuesday.
School and mass education minister Badri Narayan Patra met the bereaved family and condemned the crime. He assured that those involved in the crime will be taken to task.
Meanwhile, BJP nominee Pruthiraj Kuanr alleged that the family members of Patra were involved in the murder.
However, BJD state general secretary Ashish Chakraborty and district unit president Bimbadhar Biswal denied the allegation.
Patra has rubbished the allegations. “The job of the opposition is to oppose. To sail through the elections, they have resorted to such baseless accusations. All these allegations about my family are baseless,” he said.