Murder of Dipu, Om: Police seize another vehicle

Bhubaneswar: After several days of futile search, commissionerate police on Monday seized a Scorpio vehicle suspected to have been used by gangsters Sushil and Sushant Dhalsamanta to transport the bodies of their aides Om Prakash Swain (Om) and Deepak Mallick (Dipu) to Jharkhand.

The vehicle was seized from College Square area in the Millennium City and was in an abandoned state, police sources said.

The vehicle is registered in the name of Bhola Bhagat, who happens to be a business partner of the criminal siblings, the sources added. Bhagat is also an accused in the murder of Om and Dipu, who worked as sharpshooters for D-brothers.

On February 24, the police had seized a Honda City car in Sambalpur, which it claimed was used to transport the bodies of Om and Dipu from a farm house in Athgarh (Cuttack) to Jharkhand.

“After the incident, they sold the car, which was registered in the name of Sushil Dhalasamanta, to a man in Sambalpur. Investigation is on to gather more information on this episode,” police commissioner YB Khurania had said after seizure of the Honda City vehicle.

The police on Monday said it will seek remand of D-brothers to establish their links with the murder of Malgodown pulses trader Mohammad Farooq, who was killed two years back.

Though Cuttack Police has already submitted charge sheet in the case, it is now inquiring if Sushant and Sushil were behind the murder.

A few days back, Farooq’s family members had met DCP Sanjeev Arora and had requested him to reopen the case.