KENDRAPARA: Kendrapara police, on Monday, apprehended two fugitives from Jayapura village under Kendrapara town police station, allegedly involved in heinous crimes, including attempt to murder a senior RSS leader and president of district unit of Dharma Jagarana Manch, Vivekananda Moharana (48) twice in two years.
Acting on a tip off, police arrested Sk. Mehtab (24) and Tajuddin Khan (25) from their houses in the village in connection with a gun attack on Moharana on July 14, 2021 at Tinimuhani Chhak. After remaining in hiding at Hyderabad for nearly a year, both returned to their village recently, said Rajiv Lochan Panda, the Sub- Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Kendrapara.
Moharana was also earlier attacked in 2019 by armed miscreants in front of Gulanagar High School under Kendrapara Sadar police station while he was returning home. Two bullets hit his abdomen injuring him grievously. After the incident, he was provided a personal security officer.
In a complaint to the police on July 14, 2021, Moharana had stated that two armed miscreants had again tried to gun him down while he was in his shop at Tinimuhani Chhak but his personal security officer (PSO) opened fire at them injuring one of the criminals.
“Last year we arrested five criminals on the charge of attempting to murder Moharana. Police also sealed a nursing home at Asureswar and arrested a pharmacist of the nursing home on the charges of illegally removing a bullet from the body of a criminal without informing the police,” the SDPO added.
Both the arrested persons were booked under Sections 452, 332, 353, 307, 506, 120 B, 25 and 27 of Arms Act and produced in the court on Tuesday. The court rejected their bail applications and remanded them in jail custody, added Panda.