Dhenkanal: A former panchayat samiti member was allegedly murdered by an armed miscreants in Kamakhyanagar area of Odisha’s Dhenkanal district.
The deceased was identifies as Sarbeswar rout, former member of Dighi panchayat samiti in the district.
Sources said a group of armed miscreants attacked Rout with sharp-edged weapons and iron rods while he while returning home from a cashew orchard in Dighi under the jurisdiction of Kamakhyanagar police staiton on a motor-cycle late on Sunday night.
Rout, who sustained grievous injuries, was rushed to a nearby hospital and then shifted to Dhenkanal District Headquarters (DHH) Hospital. However, doctors at the DHH declared him received dead.
Though the motive behind the crime is yet to be ascertained, police suspect that political rivalry and past enmity might have led to the murder.
The body has been sent for postmortem and police launched started an investigation into the incident. A scientific team also visited the spot as part of the probe.
Five persons have so far been detained in connection with the incident, police said. The five are being interrogated.
