In a major development in the investigation into the death of senior journalist Navin Das’s son, Manish Anurag, the Commissionerate police on Tuesday detained one of the two persons who allegedly accompanied Manish in a car on Saturday night. The police have also seized the car in which the trio travelled.
In another development, the preliminary post-mortem report prepared by the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, has revealed that Manish had died due to asphyxiation (chocking).
“The preliminary post-mortem report states that Manish had lost his life due to asphyxiation. However, the cause of asphyxiation would be ascertained in the next phase of investigation,” said doctor Prabhas Ranjan Tripathy of AIIMS.
Meanwhile, the Commissionerate Police on Tuesday seized the car which was allegedly used by the deceased and two other persons on the fateful day. The Police have also detained one of the two persons with whom Manish travelled on that fateful night.
“The car in which the trio had travelled to South City Hotel in Patrapada from Galaxy Garden in Patia has been seized,” said a police official.
“We have identified one of the two persons who were with Manish on that day and he has been detained. However, the other person is yet to be identified,” said another police official.
The developments assume significance in view of the apprehensions raised by the deceased’s father on Monday in a video message that his son had been murdered. He however, reposed confidence in the police probe by saying the investigators would unravel the death mystery and bring the perpetrator(s) to book.
It is alleged that Manish had been abducted by two persons in a car from Infocity area on Saturday night. The abductors had also made a ransom call to the family members, sources said.
However, it is still unclear if Manish had been murdered by the two youths who later dumped his body in the pond at Patrapada from where it was recovered the next day.
Notably, the body of Manish had been recovered under mysterious circumstances from a pond at Patrapada on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Sunday afternoon. He had reportedly gone missing from a location under Infocity police limits on Saturday.