Crime Branch team takes accused Ranjan Swain alias Raj to Chandikhol
Crime Branch team takes accused Ranjan Swain alias Raj to Chandikhol
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Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch (CB) took one of the accused in the Manas Swain murder case, Ranjan Nayak alias Raj, to Chandikhol in Odisha's Jajpur district on Thursday to retrieve belongings belonging to the victim that had been dumped there to destroy evidence following the murder and disposal of his body.
Raja, who is currently detained by the CBI, is said to have confessed to the murder with Sarmista Rout, the mastermind, and retired Odisha Information Service (OIS) officer Niranjan Sethi.
During the interrogation, he further told CB that Sarmistha planned the kidnapping of Manas on February 7 in Palaspur, Bhadrak, under the Chandbali police limits, and that her automobile was utilised in the crime. Sarmistha and her accomplices Jhuna Bhoi, Bhagyadhar Nayak, and Bibek Nayak had tracked him down.
Manas was kidnapped and transferred to Dayal Ashram, an old age home under the Airfield police station in Bhubaneswar, where he was tortured and beaten to death, according to him.
Sethi had also assaulted the deceased at the Ashram, according to the CB. "Following his killing, the body was transported in Sarmistha's automobile and deposited in a location within the Ranpur police limits in Nayagarh," it continued.
After disposing of the body, the accused went to a location 2 kilometres from Chandikhol along the Daitari–Paradip Express Highway, where the deceased's belongings, including a mobile phone, a pair of slippers, a jute sack in which the body was transported from Bhubaneswar to Nayagrah, and a sari, were burned.
They then discarded a shovel and a mattock that had been used to dig a pit near a bush. "Based on the accused Ranjan's statements, the scientific team seized the spade and other burnt things from the scene today, including headphones and the deceased's slippers," the release continued.
Sarmistha, the editor of the Bhubaneswar-based web channel 'Sampurna,' and her partner were apprehended by a joint team of Bhadrak police and CB on March 28 in the Nalanga area of Bhadrak district while travelling by bus from Kolkata.
On March 21, Sethi and Raja, who reportedly oversaw the entire operation, were detained.
Until April 2, all four are in the custody of the CB.
