Bhubaneswar: In a major breakthrough, Berhampur police have arrested Uma Bisoi, who allegedly arranged for shooters to execute the murder of senior advocate and BJP leader Pitabas Panda.
Kurupatti Bhuyan, who allegedly opened fire on the senior lawyer near his residence at Baikuntha Nagar here on the fateful night of October 6, has also been nabbed.
According to sources, the duo are being interrogated by the police at an undisclosed location.
According to police, former Berhampur MLA and present BJD Ganjam district president Bikram Panda and former BeMC Mayor Siba Sankar Dash alias Pintu Das allegedly plotted to eliminate Pitabas Panda over political, personal and financial reasons. Following which, sitting corporator of Berhampur Municipal Corporation Malaya Bisoi, an associate of the former Berhampur MLA, sought the help of Uma Bisoi, an anti-social, to hire contract killers.
Uma with the help of one Jogendra Rout hired Sishupal Kumar Paswan and Kundan Kumar, both natives of Bihar, besides Bipin Swain of Hinjili and Simanchal Naik of Haripriyapur village to execute the crime. He also handed over two guns and bikes to the four accused to murder Pitabasa on September 14. However, it had to be aborted after one of the shooters had to rush back home for a medical emergency.
Uma later convinced two persons from his native village Banthapalli to commit the murder. He handled both the logistics and financial transfers linked to the plot.
Following the murder on October 6, the two sharp shooters, Kurupatti Bhuyan and Chintu Pradhan, fled to Puri, from where the latter returned to Bengaluru. Kurupatti went to Jeypore and he along with Uma stayed at the farmhouse of Sunil Hota, a close associate of Bikram, for four days. The two had later fled outside the state.
Hota was arrested on October 22 hours after the arrest of former BJD MLA of Berhampur Bikram Panda and 11 others. Later, Sunya Chandra Das was also taken into custody for allegedly providing shelter to the hired sharp shooters from Bihar along with Malaya Bisoi and Madan Dalei in his house at Alakapuri in Berhampur.
With Uma and Kurupatti now in police custody, the number of arrests in the case has gone up to 16.