Elderly man bludgeoned to death with iron rods in Odisha's Ganjam district
BERHAMPUR: In yet another broad daylight murder in Ganjam district, an elderly man was bludgeoned to death with iron rods by a father-son duo in Hinjili block on Tuesday, October 5, 2021. The victim was identified as 63-year-old P Dharma Rao of Godarapali village within Hinjili police limits. The accused are Jagili Sethy and his son Sudarsan of the same village.
Sources said Dharma had past enmity with the accused over a patch of land in the village and Jagili was on the lookout for an opportunity to settle scores with him. On the day, the victim was travelling in an auto-rickshaw from his village to Mohanapalli. Suddenly, Jagili and Sudarsan stopped the three-wheeler and dragged him out.
When the auto-rickshaw driver intervened, the father-son duo threatened him following which he fled. Jagili and Sudarsan then covered Dharma’s face with a towel and started to club him mercilessly with iron rods in full public view. As the elderly man fell down, the duo strangulated him.The accused then carried a lifeless Dharma to the nearby Rushikulya canal near Mohanapalli. They threw his body into the canal before fleeing the spot. Sources said when the accused carried out the ghastly act, many villagers stood there as mute spectators.
Some locals who were eyewitness to the murder informed police. A team of Hinjili police rushed to the spot and retrieved Dharma’s body before sending it to MKCG Medical College and Hospital for autopsy. As tension flared up in the area following the incident, Aska sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Uma Shankar Singh along with other officials arrived at the crime scene to take stock of the situation.
Later on the day, Dharma’s nephew Suresh Rao lodged a complaint against Jagili and Sudarsan with police basing on which a case was registered. Police have launched a manhunt to nab the accused father-son duo.
Last month, two persons were murdered in cold blood in broad daylight in Ganjam’s Kodala and Purushottampur blocks.