Bhubaneswar: Nearly one-and-half months after the gruesome murder of Anil Jena at Bahadalpur area on Capital outskirts, the Commissionerate Police has arrested the absconding prime accused and one of his associates.
Police said they arrested Bharat Sahu alias Bapi of Sarakantara and Durgaprasad Sahu alias Happi of Bahadalpur under Khandagiri police station for the ghastly murder of November 7.
The prime accused Bapi and the deceased Jena had past enmity over some ancestral property disputes. Jena also used to oppose illegal drug trade by a local drug addict, Alok, who is also one of aides of Bapi. Alok was assaulted by Jena and his associates over drug peddling just a few days before Jena’s murder. Alok later informed Bapi, who was an accused in a sensational murder case in the past, about resistance to drug trade by Jena, his father and other associates. Police sources revealed Jena was also involved in a murder case.
It was November 7 when Bapi was informed by his aides that Jena had hatched a plan to attack the former and assembled some local youths. An enraged Bapi along with other accused – Raza and Happi – soon rushed to Jena’s village with two pistols. Bapi engaged in an altercation with Jena and subsequently opened fire at him. Meanwhile, Raza fired bullets at the father of Jena, Abhimanyu, wounding him severely.
They fled the spot and later left for Rayagada by a Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle.
Police succeeded in arresting the accused who were on the run since the incident.
A special squad and Khandagiri Police who had launched a manhunt under the supervision of DCP Anup Sahoo arrested the accused from a rented house at Hatikhamba in Rayagada, Monday. The accused were produced in the court Tuesday and later sent to judicial custody after the rejection of bail pleas.
Police had earlier arrested other accused, Pulak Hati, Chittaranjan Parija and Alok Pradhan November 27.