Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch (CB) on Thursday took one of the accused Ranjan Nayak aka Raj, in the Manas Swain murder case to Chandikhol in Odisha Jajpur district to retrieve articles, belonging to the victim, dumped there to destroy evidence after committing the murder and disposing of his body.
Raja, who is currently in CB custody, has reportedly confessed to having committed the murder along with Sarmista Rout, who he claimed was the mastermind, and retired Odisha Information Service (OIS) officer Niranjan Sethi
During the interrogation, he also told CB that Sarmistha planned the kidnapping of Manas from Palaspur under Chandbali police limits in Bhadrak on February 7 and her car was used for it. Ranjan along with Sarmistha and her associates Jhuna Bhoi, Bhagyadhar Nayak and Bibek Nayak had waylaid him.
Following the abduction, Manas was taken to Dayal Ashram, an old age home under Airfield police station in Bhubaneswar, and tortured and beaten to death, he added.
The CB in a release said that Sethi had also assaulted the deceased at the Ashram. “Following his death, the body was taken in Sarmistha’s car and dumped at a place under Ranpur police limits in Nayagarh,” it added.
After disposing of the body, the accused went to a place alongside Daitari –Paradip Express Highway, 2 km from Chandikhol, where the belongings of the deceased, including a mobile earphone, a pair of slippers, a jute sack, in which the body was transported from Bhubaneswar to Nayagrah, and a sari, were burnt.
They then dumped a spade and mattock used for digging a pit, near a bush. “Based on the disclosures made by the accused Ranjan, the scientific team today seized the spade and other burnt items including earphones, slippers of the deceased from the spot,” the release added.
Notably, Sarmistha, editor of Bhubaneswar-based web channel ‘Sampurna’, and her associate were nabbed by a joint team of Bhadrak police and CB from Nalanga area in Bhadrak district on March 28 while they were travelling in a bus from Kolkata.<
Sethi, who allegedly monitored the entire crime, and Raja were arrested on March 21.
All four are in CB custody till April 2.
