BERHAMPUR: Eleven days after BJP leader and senior advocate Pitabasa Panda was gunned down by two bike-borne miscreants, Berhampur police has reportedly identified the killers and apprehended two persons from Bihar for their involvement in the crime.
The duo was reportedly nabbed from Munger in Bihar on Wednesday night on basis of the slain advocate’s mobile phone call records, and brought to Berhampur. Among the two suspects, one is a sharpshooter. Police are interrogating them at an undisclosed location to identify the mastermind behind the murder.
Briefing mediapersons on Thursday, DGP YB Khurania said police are on the verge of cracking the high-profile murder case. All the accused involved in the crime will be nabbed soon, he added.
In search of the accused involved in the case, police conducted multiple raids in West Bengal, Bihar and Delhi and questioned over 60 people before zeroing in on the two suspects from Bihar. Sources said Pitabasa’s business associate Balaji Reddy and a liquor dealer of Berhampur are now being interrogated to ascertain their link to the case, if any.
While police continue to remain tight-lipped over the progress of the investigation, sources said efforts are underway to gather more evidence to establish the motive behind the murder and determine the exact circumstances leading to the crime.
After the BJP leader was shot dead near his residence at Brahma Nagar in Berhampur on October 7 night, police formed six special teams to nab the killers. During investigation, police scanned CCTV footage of over 100 hours from different areas of Berhampur and came to know that six persons on three bikes followed Pitabasa from Bada Bazaar area to his chamber and a hotel before shooting him dead at a close range near his residence. The assailants were spotted by the CCTV cameras at several places in the city.
Meanwhile, the 12th day death rituals of Pitabasa will be observed near Haladiapadar area in the city on Friday. Several ministers and hundreds of BJP leaders are scheduled to attend the ceremony.