Bhubaneswar: An employee of the Odisha State Warehousing Corporation (OSWC) died here Thursday under mysterious circumstances. The deceased, Prasant Kumar Rath, was a resident of Berhampur. Rath, a driver of the Managing Director of the corporation, was staying at E7/1 at Unit VIII area under Nayapalli police limits here, police said.
Sources claimed there is a conspiracy behind Rath’s murder as the scared family has been trying to conceal his death. When asked by this reporter, his wife claimed Rath has gone to Berhampur on official work.
According to sources, three bike-borne miscreants arrived at his residence when Rath was starting his vehicle to take his son to tuition early Tuesday morning. The miscreants suddenly started beating him black and blue without speaking anything to Rath. They also assaulted and stabbed his back with a sharp-edged weapon. However, the miscreants fled from the spot when some neighours rushed to his help after hearing Rath’s loud screams.
Rath later went to a nearby hospital for treatment and attended office as usual. He also lodged a complaint at the Nayapalli police station alleging murderous attack on him by unknown people.
However, he was rushed to Capital Hospital after he complained of unease Wednesday evening. He succumbed to his injuries at the hospital at around 6am Thursday. His body was handed over to the family after post-mortem. A case (450/20) was registered by Nayapalli police under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC which has since been transformed into Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.
Sources in the police said this seems to have been a planned murder as there is no loot angle in it. The miscreants did not take away his mobile phone, vehicle or demand money from him, police said, adding that investigations are on.
