Bhubaneswar: While the ‘controversial’ memory chip, which reportedly led to the kidnapping and murder of Manas Swain is yet to be traced, the Crime Branch (CB) on Tuesday seized four weapons of offence – three split bamboo lathis, and a wooden plank – from near Dayal Ashram, where the cameraman was held hostage and brutally thrashed to death.
Jhuna Bhoi, the associate of prime accused Sarmistha Rout, has identified the murder weapons, the CB sources said.
These were recovered on leads shared by the ashram caretaker, who had thrown them through a window on the instruction from Sarmistha, the editor of Bhubaneswar-based web-channel Sampoorna. The weapons have been sent to the Department Of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack. A Professor of the department said that injuries on Manas’s body were likely to have been inflicted by the seized weapons.
His postmortem report had revealed that he was thrashed with blunt objects and his ribs were fractured due to the brutal assault.
The accused tortured him after he reportedly failed to recover a file from his former employer Sarmistha’s computer, the investigation had revealed.
Meanwhile, the CB team visited Manas’ house at Ranapur in Nayagarh district on Monday and his wife and brother identified the half-burnt chappal and earphones recovered from Chandikhol. However, the ‘memory chip’ was not found in his house.
The CB further said that Sarmistha and Jhuna have been cooperating in the investigation during the three-day extended remand. They were made to sit in front of each other on the second day of the interrogation. While the CB could elicit information on how Manas was murdered and the subsequent events, the motive behind his killing and the contents of the memory chip that he was in possession of are still unclear, the sources added.
Notably, Manas’s mother had earlier demanded a CBI probe into his death, alleging involvement of some influential people in the crime “The data in the memory chip in my son’s camera should be examined on a priority basis. Since other influential persons are involved in this crime, only a CBI probe can unearth the mystery behind his death,” said Jayanti Swain.
