Murder Accused Hid As ‘Sadhu’ For 2 Years In Odisha’s Dhenkanal, Held

Cuttack: The Commissionerate Police have nabbed a murder accused, who had been living in the guise of a sadhu (ascetic) for the last two and a half years to evade arrest.

The accused, identified as Deepak Mallik of Shivaji Nagar under Bidanasi police limits, had allegedly killed liquor mafia Prakash Behera alias Handia on September 3, 2020, and a case was lodged against two persons at Bidanasi police station in this regard under Sector 302 of IPC on the basis of a complaint lodged by the wife of the deceased.

The 40-year-old was nabbed from Hindol in Dhenkanal district on Saturday night.

Cuttack DCP Pinak Mishra told a presser that one of the accused in the case, Santanu Mallik (26), was arrested on February 24, 2021. “Though police had filed a charge sheet in the case, it was kept open under Section 173 (8) of CrPC since the main accused was still at large,” he said.

He was finally traced to Hindol, where had concealed his identify and was living there as a devotee of Mahima Alekh, the DCP added.