Eight arrested for murder of BJD youth leader

Some of the accused were nabbed from West Bengal, say sources

The accused in the murder of BJD councillor Laxmidutta Pradhan in police custo dy in Ganjam district on Friday.

Eight young men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Laxmidutta Pradhan, a youth leader of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), who was also a councillor of Chatrapur in Ganjam district of Odisha.

Mr. Pradhan was murdered around 1 p.m. on September 16 in a gruesome manner in front of his house in Chatrapur by a group of assailants armed with sharp weapons. His brother was also injured in the attack.

Special teams formed

Three special teams had been formed by the Ganjam police under the supervision of two additional superintendents of police to track down the assailants as well as the conspirators behind the murder.

Addressing the media in Chatrapur on Friday, Superintendent of Police, Ganjam, Ashish Kumar Singh said of the eight arrested persons, seven were from the Chatrapur police station area while the other was from the Kodala police station limits.

Till now the police have seized three bikes, a car, weapons and the hard disc of the CCTV camera fixed near the deceased’s home. The seized car was used for escape of the culprits after the murder. Although the SP did not disclose the places from where the eight accused were arrested, according to sources some of them were nabbed from West Bengal and the rest from Odisha.

More persons are involved in the murder. So, three police teams are continuing the investigation to track down the rest of the accused directly involved in the attack as well as the conspirators behind the murder. According to Mr. Singh, investigation has revealed a greater conspiracy behind the murder. So, the Ganjam police plan to take four of the arrested persons on remand for interrogation. The SP claimed that it was a well planned murder.

The assailants who attacked the BJD councillor were allegedly planning his murder for a long time. They got an opportunity to attack him on the day nominations were being filed for college union elections.

There was a minor scuffle between two groups of college students in Chatrapur on September 16, which provided an opportunity to the accused to execute their plan to murder.

Rivalry between groups

The reason behind the murder is suspected to be the continuing rivalry between the two warring groups of Chatrapur area. The murdered BJD leader was a key accused in the murder of a youth leader of the CPI named Sakura Behera in Chatrapur on July 23, 2014.

The CPI leader had also been hacked to death by a group of armed assailants.