Berhampur: With the brutal murder of at least seven persons in last two months in Berhampur police district, law and order situation is fast deteriorating in Ganjam. This has exposed the abject failure of the police department in checking crimes. Simmering bitterness, past enmity, political rivalry, brutal torture and extra-marital affairs are some of the reasons behind these cold-blooded murders. The upsurge in serious crimes indicates that people hardly have any regard for the rule of law as they do not hesitate to commit murders at the slightest provocations.
In the latest incident, one Ranka Sethy of Ambika Nagar in Bijipur was brutally murdered by unidentified miscreants who slit his throat with a sharp-edged weapon during his morning walk at Gandhinagar Square in Silk City, December 11. A villager Jagannath Nayak of Khairaput village under Gangpur police limit was murdered in cold blood November 28. He was earning his livelihood by operating a fast food stall at Reu Sahi in Gopalpur. A minor boy whom he had employed in his stall took the law into his hands and bludgeoned him to death over unpaid wages.
Sources said, Nayak used to assault the boy when asked for money and threaten him of filing a theft case against him if he left the job. This led the juvenile to plan the murder of Jagannath. In the third incident, a man Shankar Bisoyi was beaten to death by his wife with a wooden plank at Narayanpur village under Dengapadar panchayat and Sadar police limits, November 21. Just two days before the incident, Tutu Nayak, a native of Gola Gobindpur village under Golanthara police limits was brutally killed by his lover, her father, and two brothers at Chandpur village, November 18. The woman called Nayak to her home and killed him with the help of her father and two brothers.
Later, the accused persons dumped the body in a well. An eight-year-old boy S Rohit drowned in a pond in Bijipur village under Town police limit after he was shockingly pushed by his mother into the water body, October 26. A youth Dunia Sahu of Narayanpur village under Sadar police limit was killed after some miscreants barged into his house and hacked him to death with swords, October 25.
Police said Sahu was killed over simmering anger against him among the accused persons. Child welfare committee member Soudamini Rath was brutally hacked to death by her driver at her Bijipur, Nilakantha Nagar residence, October 11. Gosaninuagaon police said her driver killed her when she spotted him stealing gold ornaments and money from her house in her absence. Among these seven murders, police have made arrests in six cases while the accused in the latest murder of Ranka Sethy is yet to be nabbed.
Meanwhile, police have launched a manhunt to nab his killers. Meanwhile, Ganesh Patra, a 25-year-old man from Adheigaon, Ganjam district, was arrested November 21, a month after he used a venomous snake as a murder weapon to kill his wife and their two-year-old daughter October 6. The incident had sent shockwaves in the state.