Odisha Cameraman Murder: Police Form 3 Teams To Trace Absconding Web Channel Owner Sarmistha

Bhadrak: Police have formed three teams to trace and arrest prime accused in the alleged murder of cameraman of a web channel Manas Swain.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Chandbali SDPO Debi Sankar Pratap said Bhadrak SP Charan Singh Meena has formed the three teams to ascertain the whereabout of the prime accused in the murder case and web channel owner, Sarmistha Rout. Sarmistha and another person have been absconding after the matter came to light.

Pratap said of the three police groups, one team led by Chandbali IIC Karunakar Rout has been deputed to outside the state in search of Sarmistha, while two other teams are on the lookout inside the state.

The person, who has been absconding with Sarmistha, has been identified as Raj Nayak. He runs a mobile phone shop at Digabari near Khandagiri in Bhubaneswar. But his shop has remained closed for the last 20 days.

Manas had gone missing after he returned from covering a video shoot of a marriage at Palaspur village under Chandbali police limits on February 7. He was allegedly kidnapped and murder at Dayal Ashram run by Sarmistha in Bhubaneswar the same night. Later, the miscreants had buried his body in a place in Nayagarh district.

Following investigation, police had arrested three persons for their involvement in case and on the basis of their confession, exhumed Manas’ body. The three arrested persons also admitted to have committed the crime.

Two eye-witnesses, including a reporter of the web channel, on Friday told the police that 5 persons including Sarmitha had taken Manas in a vehicle to get the video recording of the marriage from his house.

Also Read: Woman Web Channel Owner Slapped Odisha Lensman Before His ‘Abduction-Murder’: Eyewitness