BHUBANESWAR: Celebrations over purchase of an illegal gun turned fatal for a 25-year-old after he was allegedly accidentally shot at point blank range with the same firearm by one of his associates while they were partying in the capital city late on Wednesday night.
The deceased was identified as Tapu Nayak, a supplier of bricks and sand. Police said Tapu and eight others were partying and consuming alcohol to celebrate the purchase of a 7.65 mm pistol, on the Maa Dakshinakali Construction office campus behind Navajyoti College in Sisupalgarh village when the incident took place.
All eight were arrested in connection with the incident on Thursday. The accused are the construction office’s supervisor Umesh Kumar Pattanayak (30) of Ranpur, Bishnuprasad Samantaray (23) of Sisupalgarh, Chitrasen Gajendra (32) of Sisupalgarh, Ratnakar Sahoo (23) of Itamati, Alok Jena (30) of Khandapada, Manas Swain (39) of Balikuda, Akshaya Pradhan (36) of Balipatna and Kalinga Keshari Patra (23) of Badamba.
As per police, someone from the group had accidentally cocked the gun. When Bishnuprasad was inspecting it, he accidentally opened fire and the bullet struck Tapu’s chest.
Soon after, Umesh and Bishnuprasad took Tapu on their two-wheeler to Capital Hospital. However, he was referred to a private hospital where he succumbed during treatment.
On learning about Tapu’s death, Umesh and Bishnuprasad fled the hospital but returned soon after to avoid police suspicion. When the cops arrived at the hospital for investigation, the duo allegedly claimed before the investigators that two unknown persons had arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire at Tapu near Mausima bridge when he was travelling with them.
However on examining the CCTV footage, police found that Bishnuprasad and Umesh had carried Tapu with them on the scooter to the hospital and he was not attacked by anyone on the way.
When grilled further, the duo confessed that they had accidentally opened fire at Tapu. They also revealed that they had thrown the pistol in the Gangua nullah after committing the crime.
The cops took the assistance of fire services personnel to recover the weapon of offence from the nullah on Thursday. Live ammunition and an empty cartridge were recovered from the accused.
Police commissioner S Dev Datta Singh said, “Efforts are underway to ascertain from where the accused purchased the weapon and their motive to obtain it. All eight persons present on the spot have been arrested on charges of murder,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tapu’s family members, who stay in Bharatpur area, refused to accept the accidental firing theory. They alleged foul play and claimed that he was deliberately shot by the accused.