Manish ‘Murdered’ Outside Bhubaneswar Hotel Over Payment Of Bill: DCP

Bhubaneswar: Police on Saturday cracked the mystery behind the death of Manish Anurag, son of senior journalist Navin Das, in the capital city.

Addressing media persons Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said, Manish was murdered by his three friends over the payment of the bill.

The three accused, Amit Pritam Biswal, Dinesh Kumar Mohapatra alias Litu, and Mrutyunjay Mishra alias Muna, were arrested by police earlier in the day. Dinesh and Mrutyunjay are residents of Kandhamal and had surrendered there. All three have been booked under Sections- 364 (a) (kidnapping or abduction for ransom), 302 (punishment for murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC.

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Giving details, Dash said Manish and his three friends had visited Laxmi Sagar area on Saturday evening. Later, they reached the South City Hotel and Bar at Patrapada in the wee hours of Sunday. At the hotel, they had an altercation over the payment of the bill.

The three friends attacked Manish in a fit of rage leading to his death, said the DCP. The three of them then took the body to the pond, about 500 meters from the hotel, and dumped it there with an aim to destroy evidence, Dash said.

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However, police are waiting for the final post-mortem report to confirm the cause of death. “We have an eyewitness who saw three persons in wet clothes near the pond after the incident. However, it has been ascertained that Manish died due to assault,” said Dash.

It may be mentioned that a complaint regarding the abduction of Manish had been lodged at Infocity Police Station on Sunday morning (October 10). During the investigation, a body was recovered from a pond in Patrapada area which was later confirmed to be that of Manish.

Subsequently, a team comprising of Special Squad in-charge Sanjeev Satpathy, staff of Tamando, Infocity and Khandagiri Police Stations initiated a probe into the matter.

On allegations that the hotel was being operated by a constable in violation of COVID guidelines, Dash said the bar concerned has been sealed and an Additional DCP rank officer has been asked to submit a report in this regard.

He said that for further investigation into the case, the Commissionerate Police have prayed the court to bring the three accused on remand for interrogation.