Kandhamal: Five persons, including two contract killers, have been arrested in connection with the murder of RTI activist Abhimanyu Panda, informed Kandhamal SP Prateek Singh on Sunday.
The arrested have been identified as businessman K. Biswajit Patra, S. Balaji Patra, Ras Bihari Patra and the two contract killers
The SP said that the contractor killers were given Rs 1 lakh to eliminate the RTI activist. A gun, three bullets and six mobile phones were seized from their possession, he said.
Singh attributed the murder to a dispute between Biswajit Patra and Abhimanyu Panda over eviction of the former’s shop from Jagannath temple market complex at Baliguda. Following which, Biswajit hatched a plan with Balaji and Ras Bihari and the trio had given Rs 1 lakh to the two contract killers of Ganjam to kill Abhimanyu, the SP added.
Abhimanyu was shot dead in front of his residence by two unidentified men on December 10.
According to the FIR lodged with the Baliguda police station, two masked persons came on a bike at 7.30 am and called Abhimanyu out of his home and shot him dead.
His family members had mentioned four suspects in the FIR.
His wife had earlier alleged that Abhimanyu had sought information from the trust of Jagannath Temple of Balipada. Locals had encroached the temple land but the district administration evicted them.
