The Commissonerate Police on Saturday arrested the owner of South City Hotel, Pradyumna Jena, its manager Sourabh Jain and president of constable and havildar association Prasanna Behera on charges of running the bar, which had come under scanner during investigation into the murder case of Manish Anurag Das, without license and in violation of COVID-19 guidelines.
Manish, the son of senior journalist Navin Das, had visited the bar located in Patrapada area in Bhubaneswar along with his friends on October 9. The following day his body was found floating in a nearby pond.
Later during the course of investigation, the police had arrested three accused — Amrit Biswal, Dinesh Mohapatra and Mrutyunjay Mishra on charges of killing Manish and destroying evidence.
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The investigation revealed that there was a quarrel over payment of bill between Manish and the three accused in the hotel. The trio later attacked Manish outside the hostel that led to his death.
A video clip had also surfaced on the internet that showed lavish parties being held in the bar of the South City Hotel.
Commissionerate Police on Friday shunted out the Inspector-In-Charge of Tamando Police station, Pramod Pattanayak, on charges of dereliction of duty for letting the illegal dance bar remain operational in his jurisdictional area since September.
Axe also fell on constable Prasanna Behera, President of Havildar & Constable Association Bhubaneswar, as he was placed under suspension on the basis of a probe by the Additional SP.
A team of police also raided the illegal bar yesterday and seized huge cache of liquor, and currency notes in denominations of 10 & 50, believed to be stocked for showering on bar dancers.