Sundargada: A young YouTuber from Ranchi was murdered during a violent highway robbery in Odisha’s Sundargarh district. However, in a dramatic twist of fate, the prime accused was killed just hours later while attempting to escape with the victim’s vehicle.
The YouTuber has been identified as Shivdhan Lohar.
According to police sources, the incident took place as Shivdhan and his friend, Anmol Nayak from Talsara, were returning to Ranchi. The duo had traveled to Odisha to drop off a relative at the Sundargada Government Medical College and Hospital. The two friends were driving back in separate vehicles. Anmol was ahead in an SUV, while Shivdhan followed behind in a smaller car. As they traversed a stretch of highway, a gang of three armed miscreants intercepted them in an attempt to hijack the vehicles. Recognising the danger, Anmol managed to step on the gas, accelerating his SUV to escape the ambush. However, Shivdhan was waylaid by the criminals. When Shivdhan bravely resisted the robbery attempt, a violent altercation ensued. The miscreants brutally assaulted and abducted the young YouTuber. They took him nearly 80 km away to Duduka under Hemgir police limits, hacked him to death with a sharp weapon and later dumped the body near a railway overbridge, before fleeing with his car, wallet, and mobile phone.
While speeding towards Jharsuguda via the coal corridor road, the main accused, identified as Shubhendu Sekhar Majhi, lost control of the stolen vehicle near Bhasma. The car veered off the road near Kharmuabal and overturned, resulting in his on-the-spot death. Another accomplice,identified as Bhubaneswar Behera, sustained critical injuries and was rushed to Rourkela Government Hospital from where he was later shifted to Cuttack. The third accused, reported to be a juvenile, has been detained by police.
“Preliminary investigations suggest a botched carjacking and the victim was murdered during an altercation,” stated ACP Sundargada Amritpal Kaur.
Sources further stated that Shubhendu was a history-sheeter with multiple pending cases of theft, highway robbery, and extortion registered against him across various police stations in the region.
Sundargarh police have registered cases related to murder, highway robbery, and accidental death. A detailed investigation is underway to map out the exact timeline of the crime and apprehend the remaining members of the gang. Shivdhan’s family in Ranchi has been informed of the tragedy, and his body has been sent for postmortem.
