Triple murder main accused held

Bhubaneswar: Two days after the gruesome triple murder in Bharatpur area here, the Commissionerate Police today arrested the main accused from Jatni on the outskirts of the capital city. The accused, Shiv Prasad Panda alias Bhabani, was the grandson of victim Shantilata Pati, and grandson-in-law of deceased couple Chakradhar Sahu alias Kalia and Sukanti.

Twin-city police commissioner R.P. Sharma informed mediapersons here that property related dispute was the reason behind the murders. The accused, who was on the run since the incident, has been brought to Khandagiri police station here for interrogation.

According to police, Bhabani visited his maternal grandmother’s Bharatpur house on Monday and stayed there overnight. Next day, he accompanied his grandmother to market and after returning, he had an altercation with Sukanti, staying in front of Shantilata’s house, over a land-related dispute.

The quarrel apparently turned ugly and in a fit of rage, Bhabani attacked Sukanti with an axe. He hit Sukanti with the back of the axe repeatedly on her head. Subsequently, he used the same axe to attack Shantilata in similar manner, leaving both of the old women dead on the spot.

Bhabani then locked both the houses from the outside and waited for Chakradhar, who had gone out to sell vegetables, to return. When he arrived, Bhabani had a fight with him and assaulted him too with the same axe in the same manner killing him on the spot as well, added the police.

The accused fled the spot after committing the crimes and threw away the axe at an unknown place. After absconding, he was hiding in a jungle in Kantia near Jatni. Acting on a tip-off, the Commissionerate Police along with Jatni police tracked him down and nabbed him from the hideout. The police are still looking for the weapon of murder.