Key accused in Odisha TV journo’s murder sent to jail

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Brahmapur, Feb 21:

The key accused in the murder of television journalist Tarun Acharya was on Friday sent to jail after his bail plea was rejected by a local court in Odisha’s Ganjam district.

The prime accused, Santosh Moharana, was nabbed from Nagpur in Maharashtra by the Ganjam district police, taking the total number of arrests in connection to the case to five.

Santosh was produced before a local court on Friday after which he was sent to jail as his bail application was rejected.

It may be recalled that the deceased who was working for an Odia television news channel was murdered on May 27 last year while he was on his way to his village Bikrampur from Khallikote. The assailants waylaid him at a deserted spot and slit his throat with a sharp knife, killing him on the spot. The incident took place barely few metres away from the local police station.

“Tarun Acharya, who was a journalist, had reported employment of child labours in Prusty’s cashew processing factory. Claiming that Acharya was seeking money and harassing, Prusty had hired three contract killers to eliminate him,” Ganjam SP Narasingh Bhol said.

Meanwhile, the police seized a knife allegedly used in the crime from his possession.

Earlier, four persons have been arrested in this case including a journalist Sibaram Nayak, owner of a cashew processing unit Shyamsundar Prusty, Suresh Chandra Sahu and contract killer Ramesh Reddy. Though six accused had been named in the charge sheet, one more accused, Nrusingha Panda, is still at large.