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Retd official who was once PRO to ex-CM arrested for killing photographer: Cop
Police said that the main accused, owner of the fortnightly where the photographer used to work, is on the run along with a woman accomplice.
BHUBANESWAR: A retired government official who worked as director of Odisha’s information and public relation department (IPRD) and served as PRO to a chief minister and a governor was arrested on Monday over the abduction and murder case of a 28-year-old cameraman of an Odia fortnightly and web portal who had gone missing last month, police said.
Niranjan Sethi, who retired as director(technical) of the department last month, was picked up by the Bhadrak district police on late Sunday evening over his involvement in the alleged murder of Manas Swain, the 28-year-old photographer of Sampurna News, the Odia fortnightly and web portal, in Bhubaneswar. Swain had gone missing on February 7 when he went to Chandbali area of Bhadrak district to shoot a wedding. On March 12, his body was recovered from a paddy field in Nayagarh district.
While Sharmistha Rout, the owner of the fortnightly and main accused in the case, is on the run along with a woman accomplice, police said they picked up 60-year-old Sethi from his Bhubaneswar residence after his name cropped up in the call detail records as he was in frequent touch with the main accused. Sethi had worked as PRO to former chief minister Giridhari Gamang and former governor Satya Narayan Reddy.
“Sethi played an important role in the murder conspiracy, murder as well as disposal of the body of the photographer. We have sufficient evidence against him,” said Bhadrak SP Charan Singh Meena. “The murder was over the contents of the memory card of the camera of photographer Swain. However, we are yet to get the memory card.”
Police officials said the photographer was physically assaulted at an old age home on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on February 14 by the accused including Sethi which led to his death. After the photographer died, Sethi and others helped in disposing of the body in a paddy field of Nayagarh district.
“The body was badly decomposed when we exhumed the body. We are still waiting for the post-mortem report about the cause of death,” said Jatindra Panda, additional SP of Bhadrak. “Things would be clearer once we arrest Rout and her accomplice Jhunu.”
Swain, a resident of Godipokhari village in Ranpur area of Nayagarh distict, was working as a photographer of ‘Sampurna News’ fortnightly and web portal run by Sarmistha Rout. Incidentally, the fortnightly was empanelled for government advertisement by Sethi on February 28, on the day of his retirement.
Police said on February 6, Swain travelled to Palaspur village of Bhadrak for video-recording of a marriage function and was coming back to Bhubaneswar the next morning when three people abducted him.
The same night he was taken to Dayal Ashram, an old age home on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar and killed. Though Swain’s father Panchanan complained about his son’s disappearance with police in Bhadrak district on February 14, the case turned into one of murder on March 12 after the body was exhumed with the help of accused Bhagan alias Bhagyadhar Nayak, Bebek Nayak (19) and Krushna Chandra Nayak (50).
While main accused Sarmistha Rout, the editor of the web portal and the fortnightly newspaper, continued to be on the run with a woman accomplice named Jhunu, police said they zeroed in on Sethi and Ranjan Nayak, 29-year-old owner of an internet cafe in Bhubaneswar.
“Swain was in possession of some controversial videos and photos related to Rout which she wanted him to hand over to her. She needed the CPU chip, which is why she hatched the plan. The chip is now in her possession,” police said.
