ROURKELA: Two days after a poultry van driver Irfan Raza was shot in the chest, the Rourkela police district on Monday arrested the main accused Junaid Alam. Irfan and Junaid work together under the same employer. Police said, the accused allegedly pressured the victim to toe his line and mislead the police.
Zone-III DSP AK Pradhan said investigation revealed a misleading FIR was filed by Irfan’s brother based on false information provided by Junaid who had fired at Irfan. In the FIR, he said, it was mentioned that two bike-borne masked miscreants opened fire on Irfan when he and Junaid were present at a secluded place near Bisra ITI around 8 am on Saturday.
The DSP said investigation revealed both Irfan and Junaid work as drivers and their employer had provided them a restroom at Bisra, where the incident occurred.
“Both Irfan and Junaid were at the restroom. Following a bitter fight, Junaid in a sudden provocation, opened fire at Irfan from an illegal country-made firearm,” police said, adding, after the incident Junaid got scared and with help of some others plotted a conspiracy to mislead the police and pressured Irfan to toe their lines.
The needle of suspicion pointed at Junaid when he repeatedly avoided police and forensic team to the spot of crime mentioned in the FIR. “Junaid and some others are also accused of destroying evidence from the room where the crime occurred and throwing the empty shell of the cartridge in a pond,” Pradhan said. Police have recovered the firearm used in the crime.
Investigation is on and a fresh statement of the victim would be recorded, police said. Junaid was on Monday produced before a court on charges of attempt to murder, destruction of evidence and possession of illegal firearm.