Balasore: Two weeks after the sensational broad daylight murder of Kunu Panda who was hacked to death by unidentified miscreants in a broad daylight on OT Road in Balasore town, police on Tuesday arrested three accused.
Briefing newsmen here, Balasore SP Niti Sekhar said the arrested have been identified as Jiten Murmu (28) and Babu Rao (30) of Telanga Sahi of Balasore town and Abhi Jena (32) of Nagundi village under Chandipur police station limits.
Sand quarry business and gang war between the two anti-social groups had led to the murder of Kunu Panda, he added.
The SP further said Tanmay Panda alias Kunu Panda and his brother Papa Panda are notorious criminals who were recently released from the jail over the murder of his rival gang leader Khasua. After Khasua’s murder, the rivalry between Animesh Ghosh and these two brothers was intensified over sand quarry business. The rival gang members had planned to eliminate them and succeeded after eliminating Kunu Panda.
“We have set up two temporary police camps in the sensitive areas of Sahadevkhunta and Laxminarayan Temple of OT Road to track down the Animesh and his gang members. Besides, efforts are on to nab Animesh, the mastermind in the murder of Kunu Panda,” the SP informed.
The incident had taken place on January 24, when Kunu Panda was on the way on a bike when some miscreants followed him on a Pulsar bike and opened fire at him. As Panda fell down, the duo attacked him with sharp weapons and fled the area.
Following the incident, some locals rushed to the spot and admitted Kunu to the district headquarters hospital where he succumbed to his injuries after a while.
