Businessman murder in Odisha capital: Probe still open, says police

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Nov 12:

Commissionerate Police is likely to seek remand for the three persons arrested for the murder of a businessman in the Odisha capital on November 7.

Yesterday, it had arrested three persons, including the wife of the deceased Pramod Routray, whose body was found near the Sialiaganj Nala under Chandaka police limits on the outskirts of the city on November 8.

But the case took a twist after the mother of the deceased Basanta Manjari Routary and his brother Prakash rubbished the police theory that Pramod, a sex pervert, was killed by his wife Trupti after she could she could not put up with her husband’s shenanigans any more. They said the murder was over Pramod’s property and that more people were involved in it.

Subarna Bhuyan, sister of the deceased, said the claims of the Commissionerate Police that Pramod was a sexual pervert are wrong and termed it ‘character assassination’ of the deceased. “We have handed over some documents to the Commissioner today, which will help them in their further investigation,” she said.

Commissionerate police said they would probe the fersh revelations provided by the family members of the deceased.

“During the recording of their statement today, the family members of the deceased came up several points, the most important of them being their claim that people other than the three arrested are involved in the crime. We will ceratinly to pursue this angle. It is by no means a closed investigation,” Twin city Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr R P Sharma said today.

“It is too early for the investigating team to reach any conclusion in the case. We have arrested  and forwarded to the court the wife of the deceased Trupti Routray (26), the main culprit, her father Rajkishore Mohapatra and younger brother Mahesh Mohapatra on the basis of the information we had. The police have so far done an impartial, fair and transparent investigation, the CP said.

Further investigation will be done after verifying all facts of the deceased family, the commissioner said. “We will examine these facts provided by the deceased family member to establish the truth. If needed, we will request the local court to take the accused persons on remand for further interrogation into the case,” he added.

“We are still investigating the relationship netween the husband and his wife since the time of their marriage in 2003 to his murder. We would ascertain whether there is merit in the claim made by the family members of the deceased,” Sharma said.