Bhubaneswar: In a major development in the sensational Titlagarh youth BJD leader Abhimanyu Sahu murder case, four accused on Friday were sentenced to ‘life imprisonment’.
Additional District Judge (ADJ) Court, Titlagarh while pronouncing verdict in the murder case today held four accused—Alok Das, Santosh Rana, Jagdish Bagh & Naresh Singh ‘guilty’ basing on the investigation and evidences produced by the prosecution.
The BJD youth leader Abhimanyu Sahu was killed by unidentified miscreants while he was on way for a morning walk on December 15, 2013. On the fateful day, Alok and three of his accomplices followed Sahu in an Ambassador car and a bike. The assailants had initially tried to kill Sahu by running him over by car and later hacked him to death after finding him alive.
The sentence assumes significance for Odisha State CID, Crime Branch as it was investigating the murder case. The state government had ordered for a crime branch probe following widespread protests in Titlagarh.
The investigating agency then had cracked the case by arresting four persons including the key accused Alok Das and three of his associates including Santosh Rana, Jagdish Bag and Naresi Singh on December 28.
Crime branch inquiry then had revealed that the BJD leader was killed over ‘personal and business rivalry’.
“A Special Investigation Team was constituted which detected the blind case and arrested the four accused within a fortnight,” Special Director General of Police (Crime Branch) BK Sharma.
Sharma in a tweet further informed that the Crime Branch had closely tracked the trial and because of dedicated efforts of Special Public Prosecutor they could secure conviction of the accused.