Search in Vizag Leads to D-brothers' Murder Link

Photos and DL of Dipu Mallick, who was allegedly murdered by the duo, also recovered

BHUBANESWAR/ VISHAKHAPATNAM:  A special team of Twin City Police Commissionerate on Friday seized a gun and 55 rounds of live ammunition from the house of Sushant Dhal Samanta, elder of the two gangster brothers, at Visakhapatnam.

Armed with a warrant, the special team of the Twin City Police Commissionerate on Friday searched the house at the Port City which was rented by Sushant. The search was conducted discreetly as Visakhapatnam is hosting the International Fleet Review.

A single barrel breech loading gun and ammunition of different grades of bore were found from the Kirlampudi Layout flat of Sushant. That apart, several mobile phones, SIM cards and a desktop computer were also recovered. Documents which show that the elder brother used multiple identities have also been recovered during the operation.

The search also yielded pictures of Dipu Mallick, who is alleged to have been murdered by the two brothers. A driving licence of Dipu was also found from the house.

“From the preliminary reports of the team, these seizures have been recorded. Once the items come to our custody, we will verify them,” Police Commissioner YB Khurania said.

The recovery of Dipu’s DL and pictures are of significance to Police Commissionerate since it could link the youth’s murder to the two brothers. As evidence, it could mean that Dipu was in their custody and further leads can be explored, Khurania said.

On January 18, a case was registered with Chauliaganj police station on the basis of the complaint of Adwaita Mallick, father of Dipu, following a direction from the Orissa High Court. The Police Commissionerate went after the brother duo basing on the case.

However, to pin down both Sushant and his younger sibling Sushil, police will have to lay its hands on more credible evidence to tie the brothers to the murder charges as recovery of DL and pictures may not just be sufficient.

While the statements of Adwaita and some other witnesses have already been recorded, multiple police teams conducted raids at separate places on the day to gather more evidence. “We are trying to get more physical evidence to back the murder case and are hopeful of success. The documents recovered from the Visakhapatnam house may be useful too,” police sources said.

The challenges before the police, however, will be to recover the dead body of Dipu and if possible, the murder weapon too. Interestingly, though there were allegations of two murders, only Dipu’s father has lodged the FIR. Dipu was allegedly abducted and killed in November, 2013.

While the Commissionerate Police had requested victims of the two brothers to come out and lodge complaints, not many came forward. Some people have volunteered to provide information which pertain to 2010-11 but no fresh complaint has been made.

The Dhal Samanta brothers were arrested from a rented house near Pokhariput area in Bhubaneswar on January 28. They are currently in police custody on a seven-day remand and are being interrogated.

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