Attempts were made to save Nikita, claims sister-in-law

Cuttack: A day after Commissionerate Police put up notice (Latka in common parlance) at the house of in-laws of Odia television actress Laxmipriya Behera alias Nikita, Sonam Sahu, the sister-in-law of the deceased actress today made some startling revelations by claiming that her brother Lipan had tried to save Nikita.

In an interview to OTV, Sonam said her brother Lipan along with father and brother of Nikita were also present on the terrace on the day of incident. “All of them tried to save Nikita but their efforts went in vain,” said Sonam adding that Lipan had narrated the entire incident to her.

Refuting the murder charges levelled against her brother, Sonam said truth is yet to come out and her brother is completely innocent. “Had he (Lipan) pushed Nikita, he would have easily fled the spot. Besides, family members of the actress are frequently changing their statements which have made the issue complicated.”

It is pertinent to mention here that after her marriage in November 2016, Nikita had moved out of her in-laws' house and was staying in Bhubaneswar with her husband since August 2017.

On the day of the incident on January 4, Lipan had gone to Nikita’s parents’ house and there was an altercation between them. While they were arguing, Nikita reportedly fell off the terrace and later succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in Cuttack on January 5.

Basing on allegations leveled by Nikita’s family, police had arrested her husband Lipan on January 8.