Bhadrak: The court of District Judge Pradyumna Kumar Nayak on Monday recorded the statement of the first witness in the lensman Manas Ranjan Swain murder case in Odisha’s Bhadrak.
This is the second phase of the recording of the statement of the witness, Debasish Jena alias Bapu of Sadanandapur village under Bansada police limits of the district. The prime accused in the case, Sarmistha, who is a web channel owner, her aide Jhuna Bhoi and two other accused were present in the court.
The Crime Branch had earlier submitted chargesheet in the case. The defense lawyers questioned Debasish for a long time in the court and he answered all the queries, said government lawyer Pradipta Kumar Samal.
In his first statement recorded on March 27, Debasish said he used to hand over all the video recording of any function to Manas and did the same thing in case of the marriage of the daughter of Balabhadra Bhola of Palaspur.
Debaish further said Manas had taken him and one of his associates from Bhubaneswar to Palaspur village on February 6, 2022 and the three returned by a scooter on February 7 after Manas the video of the marrige.
On their way back, they were intercepted near a local temple by a journalist, Sarat Panda. Later, two women and two men who were waiting in a car, came to Manas and demanded him to return a memory chip. When Manas refused to give it, he was dragged upto the car.
Debasish identified Sarmistha and Jhuna among those who had taken Manas to car.
