BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) chief Mahimananda Mishra and his associate Basant Bal were detained at Bangkok by the Thai immigration authorities on intimation of Odisha Police.
On Sunday, the State Police sent a team to seek custody of the two who are accused in the murder of General Manager of Seaways Shipping Pvt Ltd Mahendra Swain earlier in October.
Director-General of Police (DGP) KB Singh told mediapersons here that deportation of Mishra and Bal would be sought after clearing the legal formalities with Thai authorities. Currently, the duo is detained at the Immigration Centre in Bangkok. After their arrival in India, the two would be formally arrested.
Addressing mediapersons, the DGP said the two had stayed in New Delhi, Gurgaon, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Bhimdutta (on the Indo-Nepal border) before moving to Kathmandu from where they went to Bangkok on December 20. The State Police had also requested the Interpol to issue a Red Corner notice against them.
Singh said the State Police had been tracking them but have had narrow misses. From Indo-Nepal border, they moved to Kathmandu by road and from there, they flew to Thailand by Thai Airways. When the information was received, Thai Police was contacted, the DGP said and added that national agencies such as IB, CBI and ED chipped in with help.
IG, Central Range Saumendra Priyadarshi, who has been supervising the case, said the deportation is likely to take place in the next two days. ‘’Since Indian Police has no authority in foreign shore, we will have them deported first before officially arresting the duo,’’ he said.
On Friday, a Kujang Court had issued non-bailable warrant against Mishra and Bal in the Seaways Shipping executive murder case while Susant Sethy, an associate of the OSL chief, was arrested from Indira Gandhi International Airport.
The DGP said Sethy facilitated the logistics support for both Mishra and Bal. His credit cards were used for all the financial purposes. The day he was arrested, Sethy had just returned from Kathmandu. Swain’s murder was an outcome of rivalry between Paradeep Port Stevedores Association (PPSA) and Utkal Stevedores Association (USA) which is into the business for more than a year. PPSA’s monopoly was challenged by USA of which Seaways was a member, he added.
Earlier in this connection, Jagatsinghpur Police had arrested seven persons, including Rakesh Choubey, Riyashat Hussain, Mohammaed Shamim, Manoj Gochhayat, Shiba and Bapi Sarkhel.