Bhubaneswar: Two prime accused involved in the brutal murder of Chhatrapur Councillor Laxmidutta Pradhan were arrested by Ganjam police from Uttarakhand on Saturday.
Police were in search of accused Krushna Chandra Nayak and Duryodhan Reddy after finding evidence of their involvement in planning and execution of Laxmidutta’s murder.
“We had arrested 15 accused till date, including the persons in the CCTV footage and their associates. The two main accused Krushna Chandra Nayak and Duryodhan Reddy were still absconding and were hiding in different places. Three teams had been formed to nab them. We will seek seven days’ remand from the court to elicit important information from them during interrogation,” said Ganjam SP Ashish Kumar Singh.
On the other hand the two arrested accused claimed that they are not involved in the murder and were absconding out of fear.
“There was a clash in which Laxmidutta was hacked to death. However, I along with Duryodhan fled to Cuttack and stayed at my brother’s house out of fear. From there we went to Kolkata, stayed there for 12 days and contacted BJP leader Golak Mohapatra and asked him for help. He advised me to leave for Dehradun and stay in a guest house. A person named Chandu helped us there,” said accused Krushna Nayak.
“As I am into politics we had visited the science college on September 16 as nominations for college elections were underway. We got information of a clash and went to the place but left from there soon. After one and a half hour we heard the news that Laxmidutta has been murdered. We left for Cuttack in a taxi and stayed there for two days. In fear of police action we left for Kolkata, stayed there for 12 days and then Krushna contacted Golak Mohapatra,” said Duryodhan Reddy.
Laxmidutta was brutally hacked to death outside his house on September 16. Police in due course of their investigation found evidence against Krushna and Duryodhan.
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