BERHAMPUR: After a frantic search, police finally nabbed Aska Congress MLA candidate Manoj Jena’s murder mastermind from Bhubaneswar on Thursday night. Acting on a tip-off, Berhampur police raided a rented house in the Capital and rounded up prime accused Bhagaban Sahu alias Bhalu, a liquor trader of Aska.
On May 22, a day before General Elections results, Jena was returning from Bhubaneswar to Aska via Berhampur when he was killed brutally by a group of miscreants. Jena had parked his car near Lanjipalli bypass when the miscreants reached the spot on three motorcycles and opened fire at him. They also slit the throat of Jena to confirm his death before fleeing.
The incident had raised a hue and cry across the State as Jena was the Congress candidate for Aska constituency. Several Congress leaders criticised the police for not able to arrest the culprits. While a murder case was registered at Baidyanathpur police station in the city, several teams comprising selected police officers were formed to nab the killers.
On May 31, the special team had raided an isolated location on NH-16 near Kanisi and arrested two accused in police encounter. They are Ganesh Nayak alias Bulu and Hrusi Patra of Aska. Police also seized two country-made pistols from their possession.
After interrogating them, police obtained vital information about the others involved in the crime and arrested five more from Laxmipur in Koraput district on June 5.Berhampur SDPO Bishnu Prasad Pati said the prime accused will be forwarded to court and brought on remand for interrogation.