Cameraman Manas Swain was assaulted with bamboo and wooden sticks leading to his death, the Odisha Crime Branch said on Tuesday.
As per reports, Jhuna Bhoi, a close associate of prime accused Sarmistha Rout and caretaker of Dayal Ashram revealed details during the course of the investigation.
During the interrogation, Bhoi admitted that all the accused had assaulted Swain with three bamboo sticks and one wooden branch of a tree. She claimed that she had thrown the weapons of offense out of the window on the instruction of Sarmistha.
Following the confession of Bhoi, the CB team visited the place of murder at Dayal Ashram and seized the weapons. The weapons were produced before the professor of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology department of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for examination.
The SCB Professor opined that the injuries on the body of Swain were most likely done by the seized weapons and such grievous injuries can cause death in ordinary course of nature.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Crime Branch had taken all of the four accused, Sarmistha Rout, Jhuna Bhoi, Niranjan Sethi and Ranjan Nayak on a 3-day remand in the second phase in connection with the murder case of Swain.
Bhoi was cooperating with the investigation, said the CB.
On Monday, the CB team visited Swain's house in Ranapur of Nayagarh where family members of the deceased identified the half-burnt footwear and earphone used by Swain, which were earlier recovered from Chandikhol. The team conducted search of Swain's house to find out the 'missing' memory chip, but returned empty-handed.