Bhubaneswar: Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly, Naveen Patnaik, today met the family members of slain ‘Police Mitra’ in the capital city here.

Patnaik met deceased Sahadeb Nayak’s wife and two daughters at his residence here.

The former Chief Minister consoled the bereaved family and announced that he would bear the study expenses of Sahadeb’s two daughters.

Patnaik also provided a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the deceased’s family.

The Leader of Opposition expressed his commitment to stand with Sahadeb’s family in their fight for justice with regard to the murder case.

Sahadeb (36), who was also the president of sweepers’ association in the capital city, was brutally killed by the miscreants on the busy Rasulgarh overbridge in the early morning of January 8.

The incident took place at round 7.30 am while Sahadeb was travelling towards Rasulgarh from Vani Vihar on the National Highway-16 on his scooter after dropping his elder daughter at school.

The miscreants beheaded Sahadeb after they waylaid him on the overbridge.

The police have arrested five persons, including two women, in connection with the brutal murder.

Sources in the Commissionerate Police claimed that the miscreants eliminated Sahadeb as he was opposing illegal drugs trade in his locality.

The private agency that had engaged Sahadeb in the sanitation work under the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), meanwhile, has announced a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to his family. The agency also offered job to one member of the deceased’s family.