Berhampur: Odisha Police Friday arrested five persons for allegedly beating to death a 28-year-old Army jawan in Odisha’s Ganjam district.
The accused had assaulted Army jawan J Dilleswar Patra of Kalipalli near Haripur in the district Sunday, police said, adding that he succumbed to injuries at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar Wednesday.
The deceased was posted at Pannagada in West Bengal’s Durgapur district, police said.
The arrested persons were identified as J Kalyani Patra (19), Ch Sekhar Patra (23), B Cheneya Patra (26) of Kalipalli, B Bulu Patra (26) and Ch Vicky Patra (26) of Jagannathpur. Two motorcycles and two mobile phones were seized from them, police said.
Previous enmity between two groups in the village was said to be the reason for the incident, Ganjam SP Jagmohan Meena said.
Meena said there was a quarrel between two groups in the village during the immersion procession of Lord Ganesh a few months ago. While Dilleswar led one group, Sekhar, one of the accused, headed the other. According to Meena, Dilleswar also allegedly abused another accused a few days ago.
According to police, Dilleswar was here on leave around 10 days ago. On December 3, he was on way to Gopalpur to watch a cricket match. After the match, there was a heated exchange between few of the accused and the deceased.
While returning, the accused allegedly assaulted him. With critical injuries, he was first admitted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital here and then shifted to a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, where he died during treatment, police said.
Police said investigation was on to find out if any more people were involved in the murder.
PTI