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6 including father-son duo arrested in Puri Jagannath temple priest murder case
The Odisha police claimed to have cracked the murder case five days after the Jagannath temple priest was gunned down by two assailants in Puri.
Five days after a senior priest of the 12th century Jagannath temple of Puri was gunned down by two assailants in the temple town, police on Monday claimed to have cracked the murder case after arresting six people including a father-son duo who allegedly wanted to avenge the murder of another temple priest 10 years ago.
Puri superintendent of police Kanwar Vishal Singh said his team has arrested six persons in the case of murder of Krushna Pratihari, the 45-year-old secretary of Suara Mahasura Nijog, the body of 1000-odd cooks that looks after the daily cooking of Mahaprasad.
Pratihari, who in January this year was acquitted from the 10-year-old murder case of senior priest Guna Singhari, was gunned down just outside a traditional gym in Harchandi Sahi of Puri town on Wednesday. He was shot at his head and chest from close range by one of the assailants resulting in his death on the spot.
“Prima facie, it is suspected that Krushna Pratihari was killed over the 10-year-old murder case. However, there might be other reasons too which are under investigation. The six accused earlier made an attempt to kill him, but could not. The main conspirators Kalia Singhari, brother of Guna Singhari and Dolagobinda Singhari, his nephew paid around ₹2 lakh as supari to a person to kill Pratihari,” said Singh. According to preliminary investigation, a deal of ₹30 lakh was finalised for the murder.
Apart from the father-son duo of Kalia and Dolagobinda Singhari, police arrested Kalu Panigrahi, Muna Patra, Sandeep Jena and Baba Mohapatra. All of them were arrested from Berhampur town. Three other accused in the case are still on the run.
The first murder dates back to August 2012, when Pratihari was accused of getting senior priest Talachhu Bhagaban Mohapatra alias Guna Singhari gunned down by his men outside a community hall in the temple town. Police had charged him and 5 others of hatching the murder conspiracy from the precincts of the temple itself. While Mohapatra looked after decoration of the deities at the temple, Pratihari’s duties included looking after preparation of abhada Mahaprasad, the meal served to the Lord.
However, in January this year, a trial court in Puri acquitted all the six accused including Pratihari due to lack of evidence and eyewitnesses. The gun that was seized from the spot also did not match the empty cartridges found at the murder spot.
Both Pratihari and Mohapatra were allegedly at daggers drawn over a prime land in the town as well as the rising political clout of the latter. Mohapatra had become a BJD councillor in Puri Municipality defying the influence of local MLA and former minister Maheswar Mohanty. The year he was killed, Mohapatra wanted to become chairperson of the Puri Municipality.
Two years after Mohapatra’s murder in 2012, Mohanty was fired at allegedly by people close to the slain priest, who nursed a grudge against him over his suspected role in the murder. Mohanty was returning home on a two-wheeler in February 2014 when the assailants fired two rounds at him injuring him. However, he managed to survive.
