Bhubaneswar: Initially believed to be a fatal road accident, the death of an engineering student in Bhubaneswar’s Chandrasekharpur area was allegedly a planned murder stemming from a love triangle, Commissionerate Police said Saturday.
The victim, identified as Baren Rautray, was allegedly attacked and run over by an SUV near Acharya Harihar College Square late on Friday night. Police have taken six people into custody. The five include the owner of the vehicle used in the alleged crime.
Investigation by the police established that the incident was not an accident but a deliberate act of murder.
The accused and the victim had been involved in a dispute earlier in the day. The altercation was allegedly linked to a love triangle and the accused later hatched a plan to eliminate Baren and tracked his movements at night, police said.
When the student was returning home, the accused allegedly intercepted him, assaulted him with cricket stumps they had brought along, and subsequently ran him over with a vehicle.
As per preliminary investigation, this is a premeditated murder as there was a past enmity over a love triangle, Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena told reporters.
He said six persons have been arrested in connection with the incident. The arrested persons were identified as Bapuni alias Bramhananda Das (36), Chidananda Das (31), Asish Dehury (30), Swastik Bhardwaj, Suraj Biswakarma (23), and Sridhara Nayak (20).
Further investigation is in progress to determine whether more people were involved in the conspiracy.
