Bhadrak: The witnesses have identified 5 accused in the alleged murder of cameraman Manas Swain during Test Identification (TI) parade, here on Saturday.
Speaking to mediapersons, ADG, Crime Branch, Sanjib Panda said the TI parade to identify the accused was conducted in Bhadrak sub-jail in presence of judicial magistrate first class.
The five accused in the case, who have been identified by three witnesses during the parade, included Sarmistha Rout, editor of Bhubaneswar-based web channel ‘Sampurna’ where Manas had worked as a cameraman. The other accused included Sarmistha’s aide Jhuna Bhoi, Bibek Nayak and Rajan Nayak.
Panda said the fifth accused, director (Technical) of Information and Public Relations (I&PR) department Niranjan Sethi, was not brought to the TI parade as the witnesses recognised him from his photograph.
Manas was allegedly kidnapped from Palaspur village under Chandbali police limits on February 7. He was beaten to death the same night and his body disposed of in Nayagarh district. Police exhumed the body on March 12 following the arrest of three kidnappers, who claimed to have committed the crime at the behest of Sarmistha.
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The others arrested in the case include Krushna Chandra Nayak (50), Bhagyadhar Nayak (26), the kidnappers, and Sarmistha’s brother Pararemswar Rout, who had allegedly prepared the blueprint for her escape following the murder of the cameraman.
