Odisha Police Cracks Patnagarh ‘Planned’ Mass Murder; 7 Arrested, Two Absconding

Balangir: A week after the brutal murder of six members of a family at Sanarpada village under Patnagarh police limits in Odisha’s Balangir district, the police finally made a breakthrough in the case with the arrest of seven persons.

Balangir SP Madkar Sandeep Sampat said nine persons were involved in the murder of Bulu Jani and his family members. Two more accused are still at large.

The seven were arrested following raids at different places by five police teams.

The SP attributed the incident to a 10-year-old rivalry between deceased Bulu Jani and Gond and Majhi families, living near his house.

“Bulu Jani used to harass these two families as he wanted a monopoly in the business in his area. Fed up with the harassment, the three families decided to eliminate his entire family,” he said.

He further said that the accused had plotted the murder in October. Babula Jani, one of the accused, had met Gangua Majhi to chalk out a plan.

“On November 10, six members of the three families arrived at Sanarpada village around 8 pm on two motorcycles. Around 11 pm, Bulu came out of his house to attend to nature’s call. Seeing him, one of the six members waiting outside, opened fire on him. When the bullet missed the target, the six followed Bulu and killed him and his wife Jyoti,” the SP said.

After murdering them, the accused hacked his four sons to death fearing that they might take revenge if left alive, he added.

Four blood-stained sharp weapons, two mopeds, one bike, six mobile phones and a petrol bottle were seized from their possession.