BHUBANESWAR: A 34-year-old man was allegedly murdered on the city outskirts within Pahala police limits late Tuesday night.
The deceased, Prabhat Behera, is a native of Anantapur in Cuttack. Police have detained Prabhat’s former employer Debasis Patra (30) alias Tennis, and his brother Pritish Patra (29), residents of Nagari in Cuttack Sadar, in this connection.
Locals found Prabhat lying dead at a field in Phulnakhara on Wednesday morning, and informed police. On arriving at the spot, the cops noticed injury marks on his face and head. His body was subsequently seized for postmortem.
As per police, Debasis, a transport and construction businessman, is a former employer of Prabhat. Prabhat earlier worked as a manager for Debasis for the last three to four years. However, he later quit his job owing to which Debasis was upset with him. The two had an argument over the same around 15 days back, but the issues were resolved, police said.
Following his death, Prabhat’s father Bishnu Charan Behera lodged a complaint accusing Debasis of murdering his son. As per his complaint, Debasis’ brother Pritish had allegedly visited their house on Tuesday night, asking him to accompany him for a chat. However, Prabhat did not return home in the night.
“Prima facie, it appears to be a case of murder. The two brothers have been detained but the motive behind the crime is yet to be ascertained. A case of murder was registered and further probe is underway,” said a police officer.
Sources said some liquor bottles were found at the crime scene. Police suspect Debasis and his associates were already present when Pritish arrived with Prabhat on the spot. “They possibly consumed alcohol together and attacked Prabhat after having an argument with him,” they added. Police are probing whether Debasis and his associates killed Prabhat for refusing to work for him again, the sources said.
Later the day, locals staged a road blockade on Phulnakhara-Niali road. The demonstration disrupted traffic on the stretch for about two hours.
