RTI Activist Murder Case: 5 Including Contract Killers Arrested In Odisha

Kandhamal: In a major breakthrough, Kandhamal police on Sunday arrested five persons including two contract killers for their alleged involvement in the murder of RTI activist Abhimanyu Panda.

Addressing a presser, Kandhamal SP Prateek Singh informed that Panda was killed over the ongoing dispute over a Jagannath temple shop at Baliguda.

According to reports, the deceased RTI activist was also one of the main members of the temple administration committee.

The prime accused Biswajit Patra, who had acquired the shop, had a dispute with the deceased who wanted to evict the former's shop. Later, Patra along with two of his associates- Balaji and Rasbihari Patra conspired to eliminate Panda, said reports.

The trio then hired two 'supari' killers from Aska in Ganjam district, who reportedly reached Kandhamal on December 8 and executed the crime on December 10. The killers were paid Rs 1 lakh for the job, informed Singh.

“We had initialy starte probe on the basis of description about the shooters. Later, five teams were formed and sent to different parts of the State including Bhubaneswar and Ganjam. We zeroed in on two of them in Aska who later confessed to the crime,” said Singh.

Singh further informed that the weapon used in the crime has also been recovered.

It is pertinent to mention here that the RTI activist Abhimanyu Panda was shot dead by the miscreants while he was standing outside his residence at Patra Sahi on December 10.