Bhubaneswar: The suspicious death of Manish Anurag Das is still shrouded in mystery even after 24 hours of the incident while his father, senior journalist Navin Das, Monday claimed that his son was murdered by his friends.
The Commissionerate Police has sent the body parts of Anurag for forensic examinations like viscera and diatom test (conducted in drowning cases) in order to unravel the actual cause of the death.
During investigations, the cops found that Anurag was present at Hotel South City in Patrapada till his reported abduction.
Monday, the joint team of Tamando and Infocity police seized the CCTV footage at the hotel and also sealed it for investigation.
Sources said police sealed the hotel after it found that the hotel was operating till late night flouting Covid-19 guidelines.
Rumour has it that a police official has been running the hotel on lease for which the local police allegedly kept mum over the blatant violation of the guidelines.
Some staffers of the hotel also revealed that Anurag had been a regular visitor to the hotel bar. He was last seen by the hotel staff going out of the hotel on foot during the wee hours of Sunday.
However, the hotel employees’ statement also raised several questions as to why he went out alone and where his friends were then. Police also interrogated several staffers of the hotel and friends of Anurag.
Speaking to media persons, DCP Umashankar Dash said that police have been looking into all the angles to the case and the mystery would be solved soon.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s father, in a video message on his YouTube programme, ‘Nirbhaya Gumara Katha’ claimed that his son was murdered by his friends who called Anurag to attend a feast Saturday night. He expressed his faith in the Commissionerate Police and said they would solve the death mystery of his elder son and “arrest the accused persons involved in the alleged abduction and murder”.
Das said his son told him over phone- which was the last call from him at 4:11am- that he (Anurag) was being beaten up by the abductors.