Odisha Lensman Murder Case: No Bail Relief Yet For Retd OIS Officer Niranjan Sethi

Bhadrak: The district and sessions judge court here on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of retired OIS officer Nirajan Sethi in cameraman Manas Swain’s kidnap-murder case.

The hearing on bail petitions of other accused – Parameswar Nayak, Bhagyadhar Nayak, Bibek Nayak and Krushna Chandra Nayak – has been deferred, sources said.

Sethi, who was the former Information & Public Relations (I&PR) Director, is alleged to be the co-conspirator in the case with web-channel editor Sarmistha Rout being the mastermind.

The court rejected Sethi’s application for bail despite his counsel Ramanikant Patnaik pleading for it on the plea that his name was not mentioned in the FIR.

Notably, he had moved Bhadrak court after his bail application was rejected by Chandbali Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Court.

Eight persons have been arrested in the case and they are all lodged in Bhadrak sub-jail.

Last week, the witnesses had identified Sarmistha Rout, her aides Jhuna Bhoi, Bibek and Rajan Nayak during the Test Identification (TI) parade conducted on the jail premises in presence of judicial magistrate first class. Niranjan Sethi, was not brought to the TI parade as the witnesses recognised him from his photograph.

Manas, the former employee of ‘Sampurna’ web channel run by Sarmistha, was allegedly kidnapped from Chandbali in Bhadrak district on February 7. He was brutally assaulted at ‘Dayal Ashram’, an old age home, in Bhubaneswar, over some memory chips and he succumbed to injuries the same night. His body was exhumed from Badhipatna hills in Nayagarh district on March 12.