Binjharpur: Even as 48 hours have passed since the murders of two jewellers near Kharia bridge under this block in Jajpur district, police are groping in the dark without any arrest.
“We will arrest the accused soon,” SP Charan Singh Meena said. The SP along with additional SP Gopal Krushna Pattnaik and SDPO Prasant Kumar Mall along with Binjharpur police reached the village and launched a probe. The police team also recorded the statements of the deceased’s family members.
The victims were identified as Khageshwar Rana (47) proprietor of Maa Tarini Jewellery at Pritipur Bazaar and his associate Chaitnanya Sahu (55). Both were neighbours and resided at Samalpur village under Kalyanpur panchayat of the block.
The two traders had opened their shops in the morning and were expected to return home by 8.30 pm. Family members grew apprehensive and rang up the phones of the two after they did not reach homes by 9 pm. Sahu’s phone was found switched off while a call to Rana’s phone went unanswered. Family members searched for them from Pritipur to Mashara Bazaar when at 11 pm a tractor driver informed them about two persons lying near the Kharia bridge.
Family members rescued them from a pool of blood and rushed them to Binjharpur community health centre where a doctor pronounced them dead. It was suspected that the two might have died due to excessive bleeding with deep cut marks clearly visible on their necks, legs and various parts of the bodies.
Notably, four years back miscreants had fatally assaulted Rana and decamped with gold ornaments worth several lakhs of rupees. PNN