BHUBANESWAR: A day after the brutal murder of sanitary supervisor Sahadev Nayak rocked Bhubaneswar, police on Thursday arrested two more assailants even as the victim’s family alleged a bigger brown sugar smuggling network was behind the incident.
On the day, another couple Laxmi Nayak and Rakesh Nayak were nabbed in connection with the crime on the day, taking the total arrests to five. Prime accused Lipika Nayak, her husband Laxmidhar Nayak along with an associate Rocky Nayak had been held on Wednesday.
Police said the murder was over previous enmity of Sahadev with the two couples and carried out by six persons. Briefing mediapersons, Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra said, one more accused identified as Sushant Nayak is still at large and police are trying to nab him.
The arrested five, he said, had assembled at Sushant’s house in Dumduma on Tuesday evening to hatch a plan to kill Sahadev over personal enmity. As part of their plan, Lipika, Laxmidhar, Rocky and Sushant intercepted Sahadev near Rasulgarh over-bridge when he was returning after dropping his daughter at her school.
“The four attacked Sahadev with two swords and killed him on the spot. They then went to Daya river and disposed of the weapons along with their clothes. They fled to Lipika’s native village within Sarankul police limits in Nayagarh district,” said Mishra.
The victim as well as the accused belonged to Kedarpalli slums. Sahadev who was a sanitary supervisor with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation was also a police volunteer.
Even as police stuck to the personal enmity angle, the victim’s family alleged there was a bigger conspiracy to eliminate him as he was strongly opposed to drug peddling in Kedarpalli. Sahadev’s family members including his wife Sunita met Mancheswar police on the day and alleged that he was killed since he had confronted drug suppliers in his locality.
“Sahadev was against the brown sugar trade as he was concerned about the future of youths in the locality. He had even confronted some peddlers in the past for selling the contraband,” said the victim’s uncle, Bijay Nayak. Since Sahadev was a police mitra and shared information with police, his family suspect a bigger conspiracy was hatched to eliminate him as he was opposed to the kingpin of the drug ring, reportedly a woman.
“We have established most of the facts in connection with the murder. However, investigation of the case is still open and if any other person is found to be involved, he/she will also be arrested,” said DCP Mishra.