BJD leader murder case: 8 including prime accused held

Dhenkanal: Police claimed to have cracked the murder case of BJD youth wing’s Dhenkanal district president Jashobant Parida by arresting eight persons including prime accused Rakesh Nath today.

"Eleven days after the incident, police nabbed Rakesh from West Bengal. He had hired a few contract killers to eliminate Parida over some tender fixing and extortion disputes," informed Dhenkanal SP Santosh Nayak.

"In total eight persons have been arrested by us till date. Some of them are from outside the State," said Nayak.

As per reports, accused Rakesh was allegedly fixing tenders and extorting money from a construction company in Kamakhynagar. Parida as a local public representative used to protest it due to which the company had stopped paying extortion money to Rakesh. Adding salt to the wound, Rakesh's father was fired from his job by the construction company. Seeking revenge, Rakesh hired some contract killers and on March 26 this year to eliminate Parida, sources said.

The miscreants had opened fire five rounds of fire and hurled eight bombs at Parida's vehicle and injured him critically. Parida sustained bullet injuries on his head and was rushed to SCB Hospital in Cuttack where doctors declared him 'brought-dead.'