Bhanjanagar police on Sunday cracked the mystery surrounding the death of a man who had reportedly gone missing under mysterious circumstances on December 13.
As per senior police officials, the deceased Hiten Swain was murdered by seven persons following a dispute with one of the accused over chit fund money.
Bhanjanagar SDPO Subranshu Mishra said that the prime accused Sudhanshu Swain had abducted Hiten with the help of the other accused. Initially, the wife of the deceased Hiten lodged a police complaint in connection with the alleged abduction.
“Police initially started investigation as a kidnapping case. Later, it was ascertained that the youth Sudhanshu Swain and Hiten had some dispute over the financial transaction and for that, the former had abducted him,” said Mishra.
According to Mishra, after getting some clues, one of the accused was arrested on December 18. Subsequently, six more accused have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The senior police official informed that the accused Sudhanshu had invested money in one Kini International, a chit fund company with the help of the deceased. After the company was closed down, Sudhanshu started pressuring Hiten to return the invested money which led to a dispute between them.
“After abducting Hiten, the accused took him to a factory and assaulted him which led to his death. Later, his body was disposed near a hill,” Mishra informed.
The accused have been identified as Sudhansu Sekhar Swain, Chitrasen Sahu, Jagannath Bhuyan, Pradyumna Patra, Pritikrushna Swain and Bikram Swain. Police have seized a car, a two-wheeler, some mobile phones and cash over Rs 18000 from the possession of the accused.
(Reported by Rajesh Panda)