Bhubaneswar: Days after police arrested prime accused Rama Nayak in the cold-blooded murder of Sahadev Nayak on National Highway-16 near Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar in January, cops apprehended another key accused in this connection.

The accused Susei Nayak aka Sushant arrested by Mancheswar police from Kanpur area in Cuttack. He had reportedly left his two-wheeler and was on the run after committing the crime.

 Earlier, police had arrested seven persons for their alleged involvement in the crime, the latest being Rama Nayak who surrendered at the Mancheswar Police Station on February 16 leading to her arrest. 

Sahadev Nayak, a resident of the Kedarpalli area and the President of the BMC Sanitation Employees' Association, was brutally murdered on January 8 morning when he was travelling on a scooter.

The accused Lipika Nayak, her husband Laxmidhar Nayak and their two associates Rocky Nayak and Sushant Nayak allegedly decapitated Sahadev with sword in briad daylight. 

Preliminary investigation had revealed that the attack was a fallout of past enmity over drug peddling in the locality as Sahadev was opposing the illegal activity carried out by the accused in the area. A day before the attack, the accused had assembled at Sushant’s house in Dumduma here to hatch the plan to eliminate Sahadev.

The assailants, after hacking Sahadev, went to Daya River, disposed of the weapons, took bath in the water body to remove blood stains, and changed their clothes. They then fled towards Nayagarh, from where they were nabbed.