Lensman Manas Swain murder: Former Odisha I&PR Director arrested

Bhubaneswar: Odisha police arrested former Information & Public Relation (I&PR) Director (Technical) Niranjan Sethi in connection with the sensational murder case of cameraman Manas Swain.

Niranjan Sethi along with his associate identified as Ranjan Nayak has been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder case.

“Niranjan Sethi, who is the retired OIS Officer, is accused of conspiring to murder Manas Swain, physical assault and disposing of the body following murder,” informed Bhadrak Additional SP Jatin Panda today.

“Manas was assaulted physically at ‘Dayal Ashram’, an old age home located on outskirts of Bhubaneswar, and was hit with a fatal weapon,” police added

“We have ample of evidence against Niranjan Sethi,” the official said.

When asked about the cause behind murder, Panda said, “We are looking for the microchip of the camera that would reveal the truth.”

Sethi and another accused Ranjan Nayak were arrested following interrogation in connection with the murder case.

Source said that Sethi was picked up from his residence in Bhubaneswar late on Sunday for interrogation in the case.

Reportedly, police found a mobile phone belonging to the deceased cameraman from a tea seller in Chandikhol area in Jajpur district.

Earlier, Chandbali Police had arrested three accused persons in the case. With this, the number of arrestees increased to five so far.

However, Sarmistha Rout, the owner of a news portal, who is suspected to be the key conspirator behind murder of the cameraman, is still at large.

According to reports, Manas Swain, a resident of Godipokhari village in Ranpur area of Nayagarh, was working as a cameraman in a Bhubaneswar-based web portal ‘Sampoorna’ run by Sarmistha Rout.

On February 7, he had been to Chandbali area in Bhadrak district to shoot a wedding event, but disappeared. On March 12, his body body was recovered from Badhipatna hills in Rajsunakhala area of Nayagarh.

Also Read: The curious case of Odisha cameraman’s murder and an accused woman

On the other hand, complaints were filed at Ranpur, Bhubaneswar and Chandbali by Manas’ family members regarding his missing. Acting on the complaints, police nabbed Bhagyadhar Nayak, a driver who took Manas to Chanbali for video shoot. During interrogation, he disclosed entire incident.

Based on his statement, Chandbali police with help of police personnel from Ranpur exhumbed the body from Badhipatna hills in Nayagarh district.

During the probe into the case, police also arrested two others identified as Vivek Nayak of Dhamada village in Ranpur and Krushna Chandra Nayak of Old Town area in Bhubaneswar in connection with the murder of Manas Swain.

Initial probe indicated that Manas Swain was killed for possessing a microchip that is suspected to have contained some obscene video clips.