Scrap dealer kills staff over theft suspicion, dumps body in Mahanadi river

BHUBANESWAR: In a shocking incident, a scrap dealer in Khurda district allegedly killed his employee on suspicion of theft and disposed off the body in the swollen Mahanadi river in Nayagarh.The man’s body was recovered under Jagatpur police limits, about 110 km from the spot where his body was dumped by the accused. The 45-year-old Basudev Pradhan of Pubusahi under Khurda Model police limits was working for scrap dealer Rabindra Muduli for over 10 years.

Rabindra had reportedly tied his two staff Basudev and Pradeep Kumar Pradhan and also thrashed them at his godown in Pubusahi on August 21 suspecting their involvement in theft of copper wire. Pradeep confessed that he had committed the theft and Rabindra allowed him to leave. However, Basudev remained confined as he maintained that he was not involved in the theft. Rabindra and his brother Manas brutally thrashed Basudev in an attempt to make him confess to the purported crime.

Rabindra called Basudev’s wife to come to his godown on August 22 and asked her to pay up for the stolen article. She requested Rabindra to engage her husband in work and not pay him till the cost was recovered.  The scrap dealer again assaulted Basudev and he succumbed on August 23 night. He along with his driver Chabbi Sahoo took Basudev’s body in his car and threw it into the swollen Mahanadi river from Sidhamula bridge the same night.

Basudev’s wife lodged a missing complaint of her husband in Model police station on August 24 and a case was registered under Sections 365 (kidnapping or abducting a person with the intent to secretly and wrongfully confine him/her) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).  

Basudev’s body was fished out from the river bank in Jagatpur on August 26. Jagatpur police handed over the body to his family members. Khurda Model police arrested Rabindra (45) of  Kapileswarpur, his cousin brother Manas (42) of Begunia and driver Chabbi (25) of Jagannathpur in Nayagarh district on Saturday.

Police then turned the case under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence), 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.“The plastic pipe used to assault Basudev has been recovered under Section 27 of the Evidence Act and the vehicle used in the crime has been seized,” said Khurda SP, Siddharth Kataria. Basudev is survived by his wife and two daughters.