BHUBANESWAR: In yet another gruesome incident reflecting upward trend of gory crime rate in the Capital City, a man was stabbed to death in full public view on Thursday. The knife attack on the man was so severe that he died on the spot.
According to police, Sanjay Behera alias Dhoba of Pandara under the City limits had gone to a foreign liquor off shop in Palasuni under Mancheswar police limits in the afternoon and consumed liquor near the shop. He left the place but returned after some time.
While he was talking to a salesman of the shop, a bike-borne miscreant wearing a helmet confronted him. The miscreant stabbed Behera two to four times with a knife before fleeing the spot, eyewitnesses said. The entire crime was recorded in the CCTV cameras of the shop.
Sudarshan Parida, the salesman, said, “Behera used to come to the shop everyday. Today, when he returned after consuming liquor, he showed us that his wife was calling him on the mobile phone. Since he was already on a high, we advised him to go back home.”
Soon after the incident, police reached the spot and rushed Behera to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. The police have taken the recording of CCTV cameras to identify the culprit.
The police suspect that Behera was killed by illicit liquor trader Hadibandhu Routray, who has several cases pending against him at different police stations, over a personal dispute. Sources said Behera, who was earlier working for Routray, had an argument with one of Routray’s daughters recently.
After Behera’s murder, his wife and younger brother Bijay lodged a complaint with Mancheswar police. The deceased’s wife alleged that Routray had forcibly occupied their house in Munda Sahi Basti some days back. Since then, he along with his family shifted to a rented accommodation in Pandara.
The police have detained two members of Hadibandhu’s family for questioning. “The investigation is on and we will nab the culprit soon,” ACP Rabindranath Sathpathy said.
On February 28, Hadibandhu had hurled bombs at his younger brother Chitta Ranjan Routray’s house in Akhandalamani Basti under Mancheswar police limits over a property dispute. Later, he visited his cousin sister Binodini’s house in Uttara and fired at her for supporting Chitta. Binodini had sustained injuries on her thighs.