BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch (CB) of Odisha Police on Wednesday filed a 767-page chargesheet against 11 people in connection with the murder of railway constable Soumya Ranjan Swain, who was lynched in Bhubaneswar’s Balianta area on May 7.
The 11 chargesheeted accused are among the 20 people arrested in connection with the case. The CB said it also examined the pleas and alibis of the remaining nine accused but found no sufficient incriminating material at this stage to establish their active participation in the assault.
Sources said the available evidence against the nine persons is inadequate to make out a prima facie case for prosecution. The investigation has therefore been kept open under Section 193(9) of the BNSS to facilitate further evidence collection, examination of pending forensic reports and pursuit of additional leads.
The agency said efforts are continuing to apprehend other identified persons allegedly involved in the incident. Supplementary chargesheets will be filed if fresh evidence emerges.
The CID-CB filed the chargesheet before the SDJM Court in Bhubaneswar within the 90-day statutory period prescribed for murder cases under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The agency had earlier clarified that the incident did not fall under the legal definition of mob lynching and was being investigated as a murder case.
According to a statement issued by the CB, the chargesheet was filed under Sections 103(1), 191(2), 191(3), 189(4), 190 and 127(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), based on oral, documentary, scientific and other corroborative evidence gathered during the investigation.
Meanwhile, the CB is yet to file the chargesheet in the molestation case registered against Soumya based on complaints by two young women. One of the complainants had alleged that the constable assaulted and molested her, prompting local residents to intervene, surround him and allegedly beat him to death.
Sources said investigators are also examining the role of Soumya’s friend, Om Prakash Rout, who was riding the motorcycle at the time of the incident. If evidence establishes that Rout supported Soumya in allegedly passing remarks at the women or participated in the alleged assault, his name will be included in the molestation case chargesheet, they added.