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An unusual experience for flight passengers

Photo: Ashoke Chakrabarty

Under the scanner: Sandeep Acharya alias Raja, the prime suspect in the killing of Birinchi Das (with his face covered) on his arrived at Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. —

BHUBANESWAR: For the 180 passengers, who boarded the Air Deccan-651 flight from Mumbai on Wednesday, it was not an unusual journey. But when they got off at Biju Patnaik Airport here, they realised who their fellow traveller was.

Over 70 reporters and cameramen, two platoons of police personnel and hordes of curious onlookers jostled among themselves to get closer look at the man, who was neither a Bollywood actor nor a cricket star, but Sandeep Acharya alias Raja who had been giving sleepless nights to Orissa police for the last three weeks. Acharya, the prime suspect in the sensational murder of Biranchi Das, the former coach of child marathoner, was brought to Bhubaneswar after he had surrendered before Goa police on Monday. “When we were about to board the flight at Mumbai in the morning, Acharya, whom I recognised later, was like any other man enjoying his idli and bada at airport in the morning. During the two-hour journey, nobody had the slightest inkling that a gangster was sitting next to them,” Srikrushna Mohanta, who flew here in the same Air Deccan flight, said. On the 32nd row, Acharya was flanked by two men each on left and right sides. “As the flight landed, Acharya and accompanying police personnel were asked to remain in their seats while rest of passengers came out of the flight,” he said. “When my car was about to pick me, the scrambled chase of police jeeps by the media told the whole story,” Mr. Mohanta said. Acharya’s face was covered with black cloth. One could see his eyes only and police also did not allow him to speak to the media.

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