Berhampur: Sunil Hota, a businessman from Jeypore in Koraput district, has been detained by police for allegedly harbouring the assailant who shot and killed senior advocate and BJP leader Pitabas Panda on October 6 night.
Hota is an associate of former BJD MLA and Bikram Panda, who allegedly plotted with former BeMC Mayor Siba Sankar Dash alias Pintu Das, corporator Malya Bisoi and BJD leader Madan Dalei to execute the murder by hiring sharp shooters through Uma Bisoi, an anti-social.
According to sources, a police team from Berhampur picked up Hota from his residence at Sriramnagar in Jeypore. Koraput SP Rohit Verma said that they assisted their Berhampur counterparts in the operation and the latter would clarify Hota’s role in the case after an investigation.
This came a day after Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M told a presser that Kurupati Bhuyan and Chintu Pradhan gunned down Pitabas Panda on October 6 night and abandoned their bike at a tea shop near Chandpur chowk along NH-16 before boarding a bus from Bhubaneswar to Puri from where Chintu returned to Bengaluru, where he worked, and Kurupati went to Jeypore.
In Jeypore, Kurupati along with Uma stayed at the farmhouse of Hota, and the two then fled outside the state.
The SP added that Hota provided them shelter despite being aware of their involvement in the murder.
A total of 12 people, including three BJD leaders, have so far been arrested in connection with the murder. The others include sharp shooters from Bihar who were initially hired for the murder, Bipin Swain and Simanchal Nayak, who did the recce and showed the escape route to the shooters from Bihar, and Jogendra Raut, who took care of the logistics on the direction of Uma Bisoi.
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