Berhampur: Gopalpur police on Saturday secured three-day remand of five key accused in the kidnapping and murder of realtor Sudhir Kumar Patra.
They are prime suspect Kalu Charan Pradhan alias Kalia, boyfriend of the alleged conspirator and Sudhir’s niece Nibedita Patra, Surya Pratap Singh, the supari killed nabbed from Surat, Jitun Palei, who was keeping in touch with the criminals from Surat on a regular basis, and Narayan Pradhan and Ashish Mahapatra of Buguda, who were involved in the kidnapping, Rs 2 crore ransom call and the brutal assault on the realtor, leading to his death.
Police are expected to question the accused on key aspects, including the execution of the murder, use of weapons, and logistical arrangements made before and after the incident. Efforts will also be made to uncover the motive behind the killing.
The 47-year-old realtor was allegedly waylaid by a group of assailants, bundled into a vehicle, and whisked away while returning home after taking part in a game of volleyball in the Dura Defence Colony area under Gopalpur police limits on April 15 evening. A week later, his decomposed body was recovered on the side of a road that led to a jungle under Sorada police limits in Ganjam district. He was identified by family members primarily through his clothing.
Meanwhile, Sudhir’s father has contested aspects of the police narrative, particularly the emphasis on property disputes as the core motive behind the murder. Instead he blamed his granddaughter Nibedita for orchestrating the crime, claiming that the family had opposed her inter-caste relationship with Kalu and had been seeking suitable grooms for her. He stressed that his two sons were close and ran businesses together, with Sudhir taking responsibility for arranging Nibedita’s marriage. “Both my sons were very close… My granddaughter is a fraud and she has done everything. We had a proposal from a doctor, but she refused to marry him and instead preferred a businessman,” he said, downplaying strained family ties as the trigger.
Sudhir’s daughter, who is studying Plus II, said that she was finding it difficult to believe that her cousin could plot his father’s murder. “My father had always done justice with Nibedita and her brother. There was no dispute over property. Maybe they were jealous of my father,” she said.
Following the arrest of nine persons, including Nibedita and her brother Tushar Patra, Ganjam SP Suvendhu Patra had earlier said they cracked the case by connecting the dots between an earlier untimely death in the family, the suspicion of black magic, business rivalry between two brothers, and a revenge plot. Preliminary probe indicated that Nibedita hatched the plot with her boyfriend. She and Tushar had allegedly harboured resentment, believing their uncle was responsible for their father’s untimely death through witchcraft and had manipulated property matters.
