Bodies Of ‘Missing’ Youths Recovered From Lake In Odisha’s Balasore; Elder Brother & Supari Killers Held

Balasore: Bodies of two youths, who had been missing since Monday, were recovered from Blue Lake of Mitrapur under Nilagiri block in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday.

The deceased have been identified as Bhabani Shankar (22) and Manoranjan Mohapatra (21) of Kansa village.

According to sources, the bodies were found floating in the lake this morning. On being informed, the fire personnel and the police team reached the spot and recovered the bodies.

On February 5, the duo told their respective families that they were going to Mitrapur. When they did not return home late into the night, their family members tried to contact them but their mobile phones were found switched off. The following day, locals spotted Manoranjan’s two-wheeler and chappals with blood stains near the water body. Following which, a team from the Odisha Fire Service and ODRAF personnel launched a search operation to trace the bodies.

It is being suspected that they were murdered and the bodied later dumped in the lake.

Police have arrested seven persons, including Bhabani’s elder brother, his sister-in-law and five supari killers, in this connection. The supari killers attacked and killed Bhabani. Since Manoranjan saw the body, they bumped him too.

“Prima facie it appears to be a pre-planned murder hatched by Bhabani’s brother over three months. Not only land dispute, investigation revealed that there was some friction among the brother over monetary compensation following division of parental land. The angle of illicit relationship is also being examined,” said Balasore SP Sagarika Nath.

The SP further said that it is first instance of supari killing in the district in the last one year. The elder brother of the deceased is 27-year-old and has been working as a driver. “The criminal antecedent of those detained are being ascertained. The sister-in-law was aware of the plan and had helped to destroy evidence,” she added.