Bhadrak: Yet another witness deposed at Bhadrak district court Monday and recorded his statement in the much-hyped cameraman Manas Swain murder case. The witness was identified as Pradip Barik, a native of Gopei village under Patkura police limits in Kendrapara district and a senior assistant posted in the office of the national highway at Cuttack.
Barik in his statement said that he was present when prime accused Sharmistha Rout was brought on remand and interrogated during the Crime Branch probe. Sharmistha revealed during interrogation how and from where Manas was kidnapped and admitted to burying his body at Badhupatna village in Nayagarh after the murder. She also admitted buying pick mattock, weeding hoe and salt from Sunakhala market, burying the body and later disposing off the tools at Chandikhole, Barik said.
Sharmistha, accompanied by Jhuna Bhoi, Ranjan Nayak, Bhagyadhar Nayak and Vivek Nayak in her car, went to bring Manas from Chandbali, February 6, 2022. They waited all night for Manas at Palashpur and asked him to hand over the camera’s memory chip when he came to meet them the next day. They forcibly took him in their car when he refused to hand over the camera chip. Later, they returned to Bhubaneswar and held Manas hostage at Dayal Ashram. After murdering him there, Sharmistha and Jhuna visited Unit-1 market and purchased gunny bag, gloves, threads and a plastic bag. They sent caretaker Sony to market after the inmates of the Ashram had their food. Later, they stuffed the body of Manas in a gunny bag and left for Bhagyadhar’s Badhupatna village in Nayagarh to bury the body.