ROURKELA: Almost four months after 28-year-old Anand Toppo was found dead in a flat in Bhubaneswar under mysterious circumstances, his parents on Sunday pointed fingers at his friend hockey Olympian Birendra Lakra for the incident. Addressing mediapersons, Anand’s father Bandhan Toppo, mother Ashrita and his two uncles accused Bhubaneswar police of not acting and demanded CBI investigation into the matter.
Bandhan claimed that on February 28 this year, Birendra informed him about Anand’s death. However, he did not give any coherent detail of what happened there. Anand was reportedly found dead in flat No 401 of Ayush Radium in Infocity, Patia at around 10 am shortly after his arrival there. Only Birendra and a girl Manjeet Tete were present in the flat, he said.
Bandhan further claimed that he immediately rushed to Bhubaneswar from Rourkela and wanted to lodge a complaint, but the police refused to entertain him and sent his son’s body for autopsy to AIIMS the next day. “I was told that Manjeet was in the bathroom and Birendra was in the drawing room when my son took the extreme step. The girl first saw Anand hanging and brought him down. This story and the circumstances in which my son was found dead raise serious doubts. My repeated efforts to seek a detailed investigation by the Commissioner and DCP of Bhubaneswar were turned down. It seems the police are trying to hush up the case by giving it a colour of unnatural death case as Birendra is a Deputy SP and a big name in hockey,” the father alleged.
He claimed that Anand was a close friend of Birendra and the flat was taken on rent last year. For last eight months, it was used by Birendra as Anand used to stay at Rourkela. Manjeet had moved to the flat around 45 days before the incident and Bandhan said he was not aware of Anand’s relationship with her. The father suspected that his son might have been strangulated or poisoned before being hanged as part of a pre-planned conspiracy and all circumstantial evidences were erased. He reiterated the demand for a CBI probe to unearth the truth. Birendra could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.