Bhubaneswar: More skeletons are tumbling out of the closet in cameraman Manas Swain’s kidnap-murder case. The mother of the prime accused, Sarmistha Rout, on Friday defended his son Parameswar Rout, who was arrested after being brought to Odisha from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh the previous day.
“My son is innocent. Niranjan Sethi had asked him for Rs 10,000. He was kept in the dark about the incident and only tried to help his sister,” she said. The retried OIS officer Niranjan Sethi, whose arrest earlier this week gave a shocking twist to the case, is believed to be a co-conspirator in the case.
She also advised her daughter, Sarmishtha, to surrender before the police.
Meanwhile, the caretaker of Dayal Ashram claimed to have found a letter purportedly written by Manas before allegedly being tortured to death at this old age home in Bhubaneswar over a memory chip containing objectionable video and photos that could have landed Sarmistha in trouble.
The caretaker told a local channel that she found three letters in a polythene bag under a bed and handed them over to Sarmistha.
“I found the letters while cleaning the room. Manas had mentioned his name, his contact number and his father’s name. He had also written that he was being tortured and those who had abducted him had also taken away Rs 4,000, his camera, wallet and bank passbook,” the caretaker said.
Manas also mentioned in the letter that if he dies, his body should be sent to his village and not handed over to his tormentors, she added.
On Friday, Crime Branch, which took over the investigation from Bhadrak police, also visited the spot at Palaspur village under Chandbali police limits from where Manas was allegedly kidnapped on February 7.
Another team has reportedly moved outside Odisha to nab Sarmistha, who is still at large
So far, six persons, including Sethi and his associate, Sarmitha’s brother and three kidnappers, have been arrested in connection with the case.
The 28-year-old cameraman was allegedly beaten to death the same night he was kidnapped and his body was disposed of in Nayagarh district. Police exhumed the body on March 12, more than a month after he disappeared, following the arrest of three kidnappers, who claimed to have committed the crime at the behest of Sarmistha.
