Another Key Accused In BMC Staffer’s Brutal Murder Nabbed From Odisha’s Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: Mancheswar police on Saturday arrested another alleged mastermind of the January 8 brutal murder of a former police mitra, Sahadev Nayak, on National Highway-16 near Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar.

The accused, Susei Nayak aka Sushant, was nabbed from Kanpur area in Cuttack. He had reportedly left his two-wheeler and was on the run after committing the crime.

This comes almost a fortnight after another prime accused, Rama Nayak, surrendered at the Mancheswar police station leading to her arrest.

Police had earlier attributed the murder to previous enmity of Sahadev, a sanitation supervisor with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), and arrested five persons, including two couples. Those arrested had allegedly assembled at Sushant’s house at Dumduma to plot the murder on January 7 evening.

The 32-year-old man was hacked to death in full public view at around 8 am on January 9 on a railway overbridge near Rasulgarh square under Mancheswar police limits. Lipika Nayak, her husband Laxmidhar Nayak, their associate Rocky and Sushant came in two motorcycles and intercepted Sahadev near the overbridge when he was returning after dropping his daughter at her school. While one of the accused hit him with a helmet, his associate brought out a chopper and almost decapitated him. He was shifted to a hospital where doctors declared him dead.

The victim as well as the accused belonged to Kedarpalli slums.

Sahadev’s family had then alleged there was a bigger conspiracy to eliminate him as he strongly opposed drug peddling in Kedarpalli. Initial investigation revealed that Lipika and Laxmidhar also worked as sweepers of the civic body but lost their jobs as Sahadev, who was also the president of BMC Safai Karamchari Association, opposed their alleged involvement in brown sugar trade.

Lipika was reportedly arrested last year for brown sugar peddling and planned to eliminate Sahadev after walking out of jail on January 5. Laxmi Nayak and Rakesh Nayak were the other couple arrested in connection with the murder.

Two motorcycles, a blood-stained sword, four mobile phones and other items were seized during the course of investigation.

Sources said Sahadev worked as a Police Mitra under the ‘Basti Ku Chala’ campaign of city police. However, cops later clarified that he was no longer working for them as a volunteer in the slums.