Puri: Hours after a hotel owner in Odisha’s Puri district was allegedly stabbed to death Wednesday, an accused was arrested, following an encounter with the police, a senior officer said.
The accused, an employee of the hotel, was injured in the exchange of fire and was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Cuttack, he said.
A group of three or four men allegedly stabbed the hotel owner to death early Wednesday and fled the spot, Puri SP Prateek Singh told reporters.
The deceased was identified as Pabitra Nayak, the owner of the hotel in the Baliapanda area of Puri.
During the investigation, the police examined the CCTV footage of the area and identified the main accused, the SP said.
“When a team of police personnel chased him, he fired at them, and the policemen retaliated. The accused was injured during the exchange of fire,” Singh said.
The accused suffered a bullet injury on his leg and was admitted to the Puri district headquarters hospital, another officer said, adding that he was later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
A police team has been searching for others involved in the killing of the hotel owner, whose body has been sent for post-mortem examinations, he said.
“The motive of the crime is yet to be ascertained, but preliminary investigation suggested that there was a dispute over room booking,” the officer said.
The investigation is in progress to ascertain the exact motive behind the killing and the sequence of events leading to the murder.
PTI
