BHUBANESWAR: Trial in Biranchi Das murder case entered its fourth day today with senior bureaucrat Priyabrat Patnaik appearing before the court as a prosecution witness. Album artist Bidusmita Mantri also deposed before the Fast Track Court No 3 during the day.
In her deposition, Bidusmita said, she had known Sandip Acharya alias Raja, the prime accused in the murder, as a fan of her and Leslie who subsequently received the threats.
Since she and Leslie were friends, Raja wanted her to mediate between him and her fellow album artist.
She told the court that Raja frequently called her and she had recorded the conversations, contents of which, were transferred into a CD and submitted to police. During the conversations, Raja had threatened to eliminate Biranchi on the judo hall premises. He had also said he would target Patnaik.
Earlier, deposing before the court, Patnaik said, he met Raja on March 16 last year in the judo association office.
Album artist Leslie Tripathy and her father Sailen Tripathy had come to him a day before seeking his intervention over Raja threatening them. He had agreed to help in his personal capacity and met the latter, Patnaik told the Additional District Judge Bibekananda Das.
The meeting with Raja lasted for 20 to 30 minutes, Patnaik said, and added that besides him, Biranchi and Raja’s brother Dipu were present in the room where the meeting was held. A fifth person came but left soon.
During cross-examination by the defence, he said, he learnt from Leslie that she had lodged a complaint with Airfield Police over Raja’s threats. Since it did not yield any result, they had sought his help and he agreed to it.
On April 13, 2008, at about 7.45 p.m., he learnt that Biranchi was shot dead.
