Circulation Staff Of Vernacular Daily ‘Murdered’ In Balangir

By
OB Bureau

Balangir: Balangir Town Police on Tuesday detained three persons in connection with the murder of a circulation employee of a vernacular daily the previous night.

The three have been identified as Swadhin Meher, the prime accused, and his two associates, Tapan Nayak and Tofan Nag. .

According to police, Pratap Mahapatra, a native of Jagatsinghpur district, was working as a circulation manager of the Odia vernacular daily for the last four months.

As the office was closed on January 26 on the occasion of the Republic Day, Mahapatra had gone to Sambalpur on some personal work. From Sambalpur, he left for Sonepur. After arriving in Balangir from Sonepur in a bus at around 11.30 pm, Mahapatra was walking down to his office when he was intercepted by three miscreants near the Station Road at Mahalaxmi Nagar. As the miscreants tried to loot cash, there was a scuffle in which Swadhin stabbed Mahapatra with a knife, killing him on the spot. The three miscreants then fled the area.

Following information, a team of Town Police rushed to the spot and took the body to the district headquarters hospital, where the postmortem will be conducted on Tuesday.

Mahapatra, who had married last year, is survived by his wife and a 3-month-old son.

Police later examined the footage of the CCTV where the incident had taken place and launched a manhunt in  the town to nab the trio. Swadhin was apprehended from his house and on the basis of iinformation extracted from him,  his two associates were nabbed in the wee hours.

Meanwhile, Balangir SP K Sivasubramani arrived at the Town Police station on Tuesday for further interrogation of the three detained to elicit detailed information from them.

Expressing shock and resentment over the incident, senior journalists and think-tanks of Balangir town have blamed police inaction in controlling the crime. “The rate of crime in the town has gone manifold in the recent past due to rampant use of drugs and the drug peddlers are selling the narcotics in public places. There is no intensive night patrolling in the town. As a result, the drug addicts are committing such crime,” they rued.

OB Bureau

Recent Posts

Meet The Actress Who Left Bollywood After Featuring In The Highest-Grossing Woman-Centric Film

Mumbai: Over the years, female actresses have often outshone their male confreres at the domestic…

November 8, 2024

Mango Kernel Incident In Odisha: BJD Fires Fresh Salvo At BJP Govt

Bhubaneswar: War of words between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Biju Janata…

November 8, 2024

Bhubaneswar ITF World Tennis Tour: Odisha Boy Kabir Hans Storms Into Doubles Final

Bhubaneswar: Local boy Kabir Hans delighted the home crowd at the Kalinga Stadium Tennis Centre by…

November 8, 2024

TV Actor Nitin Chauhan Of ‘Tera Yaar Hoon Main’ Fame Dies At 35; Was It Suicide?

Mumbai: Television actor Nitin Chauhan’s untimely demise at the age of 35 has once again…

November 8, 2024

Vending On Footpath Banned During Cuttack Bali Jatra; Check Details

Cuttack: Vendors will not be allowed to do business on footpaths during the upcoming Bali…

November 8, 2024

Ranji Trophy: Despite Pattanaik Ton, Odisha Stare At Defeat After Following On Vs Mumbai

Mumbai: Sandeep Pattanaik completed a fighting century but that didn’t help Odisha avoid a follow-on…

November 8, 2024

Former BJD MLA Blames Naveen Patnaik For Party’s Debacle In Odisha Polls

Bhubaneswar: After several Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders blamed VK Pandian for the regional party’s…

November 8, 2024

PM Modi Slams Opposition’s Article 370 Resolution: ‘Conspiracy Against Kashmir’

Mumbai: The Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance which formed the government in Jammu & Kashmir after winning…

November 8, 2024