DHENKANAL: Protesting the delay in arrest of Hrudananda Biswal, who has been elected samiti member and is one of the accused in Salman Rout murder case, hundreds of villagers on Monday demanded his immediate arrest. The villagers have threatened to take to the streets if the accused, including Biswal who is absconding, are not arrested at the earliest.
The villagers along with the family members of Salman met Collector Roopa Roshan Sahoo on Monday in the grievance cell and submitted a memorandum to her in presence of SP Basant Panigrahi.
The villagers stated in the memorandum that Hrudananda, main accused Byomkesh Biswal, Mrutyunjay Biswal, Manmohan Biswal along with their associates killed Salman before the panchayat elections. They claimed that though the FIR mentions names of 15 persons, district police has arrested only three so far and seized some motorcycles and revolver.
Hrudananda, who was vice-chairperson of Sadar block prior to panchayat election, has now been elected samiti member. Though he continues to remain absconding after the incident, he was elected from Sankulei village adjacent to Tarabha, they alleged. The SP said, Crime Branch has taken over the case.
The villagers alleged that the peace committee constituted by Collector has not proved effective in resolving the tension in the area.
So far, Dhenkanal police have arrested three accused. They include main accused Byomkesh, who was arrested on February 5, a day after the murder. The two others are Tarabha Sarpanch Chitaranjan Biswal and Trayambaka Biswal.