SAMBALPUR: A 48-year-old man allegedly bludgeoned his friend to death after a drunken brawl over a petty issue at Rasanpur village within Sadar police limits on Thursday night.
While police got to know about the incident on Friday morning, the accused, J Sridhar was nabbed from the railway station while he was trying to flee Sambalpur. The victim was identified as Satyanarayan Panigrahi (52) of the village. As per reports, Satyanarayan was drinking liquor at the house of one of his friends Naresh Oram when Sridhar reached there in an inebriated state and started an argument over some issue.
As their brawl intensified, Sridhar in a fit of rage picked up a stick and started hitting Satyanarayan on his head repeatedly. He also assaulted one Prafulla Padhi who was sleeping in the house and Dilip Rout, who rushed to the room after hearing the screams of the victims. However, both of them managed to escape from the house.
On being informed by Satyanarayan’s family, police rushed to the spot and found his body in the backyard of Oram’s house. Police also recorded the statements of Prafulla and Dilip.
On the direction of the SP, a team comprising three IICs was formed and Sridhar nabbed from the railway station. Rout said, “I don’t know what led to the argument between the two. They used to be good friends and were drinking mates. When I came in, I saw Satyanarayan lying in a pool of blood. Sridhar also thrashed me.”
SDPO Tophan Bag said, “The actual cause of the murder is yet to be ascertained. As per the accused, the victim always asked him for liquor but never paid for the booze. However, his statement cannot be trusted completely. Further investigation is underway.”