Bhubaneswar: A day after prime accused Dinabandhu Nayak alias Dinesh Nayak turned himself in, ACP, Zone 6, Sonal Singh Parmar on Wednesday revealed the sequence of events leading to the murder of 27-year-old Satyabrata Pradhan at Niladri Vihar in Odisha capital over a suspected ‘love triangle’.
Addressing a presser, the ACP said that Dinesh was in a relationship with Liza Kandi and they had rented a house at Niladri Vihar about 7-8 months ago. “He had left for his native place in Jagatsighpur, where his wife and a daughter stay, at the fag end of last year. He returned to Bhubaneswar on the intervening night of January 8-9, suspecting Liza of having an affair with another man and ,” she said.Dinesh had apparently told her that he would be away from Bhubaneswar and secretly monitored her movements to confirm his doubts. He repeatedly called Liza on that day, but received no response. “On reaching here, he found Satyabrata and Liza inside the house and in a fit of rage, stabbed him. Satyabrata ran out of the house in a bid to save himself and collapsed near Mangla Mandir chhak. Locals assisted Liza in shifting him to an
ambulance, but he succumbed to his injuries,” Parmar said.
Dinesh fled the scene immediately after the attack, which took place between 1 am and 2 am. “He went into hiding but soon realised that police were closing in and surrendered yesterday. He has been arrested and will be forwarded to court,” she said.
The ACP denied any conspiracy angle in the murder and gave a clean chit to Liza. “Investigation is underway to ascertain from where Dinesh got the knife. His criminal antecedents are being verified,” she added.
According to police sources, Liza had earlier pleaded innocence. She told police that Dinesh attacked Satyabrata with a knife following a heated argument, slashing his throat despite her attempts at intervention. A CCTV footage surfaced on Tuesday showing Satyabrata running while clutching his neck, with Nayak and the woman following him.
He hailed from Puri’s Brahmagiri district.
Meanwhile, Dinesh was taken for crime scene recreation this afternoon. The knife and car used in the crime has been seized, the sources added.
The case had drawn additional attention after a car, belonging to Satyabrata’s employer, plunged off the Sishu Bhawan overbridge shortly after the murder. The owner of the car, registered in Brahmagiri area, rushed to Bhubaneswar along with another driver upon learning about the stabbing incident. The accident took place as they were allegedly speeding away after picking the car from Capital Hospital, fearing the vehicle would be seized as evidence in the murder case.