Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 7:

A team of Paradip police today raided the house of Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) chief Mahimananda Mishra located at Baramunda here in connection with the murder of Seaways Shipping and Logistics Private Limited (SSPL) General Manager Mahendra Swain.

mahima-house

Informing about the raid, Jagatsinghpur SP Jai Narayan Pankaj said, "We had received information about presence of Mahima Mishra at his Baramunda house. Acting on it, a team of Paradip police conducted raid at the house. However, he was not there. People present in the house were questioned."

Notably, police had also raided Mishra’s farm house in Nischintakoili, Empires Hotel at Saheed Nagar in Bhubaneswar and his house at Odia Bazar in Cuttack last month. Some incriminating documents were seized during the raids.

A lookout circular has been issued against Mishra in connection with the murder of Swain. The OSL chief had moved the Odisha High Court seeking anticipatory bail and challenging the lookout circular. However, the court denied interim protection to him.

The firearms licenses of Mishra and his son Charchit have been cancelled by police.

It may be recalled here that on October 26 shots were fired at Swain near Ambedkar Bhawan at Madhuban Colony in Paradip. Two miscreants had hurled crude hand bombs at the SUV in which Swain was travelling. While Swain was fleeing to save himself after alighting from the vehicle, miscreants fired two rounds at him leading to his death.

Probing into the incident, Paradip police have so far arrested five accused– Rakesh Chaubey and Riyasat Hussain of Jamshedpur, Muhammad Samin of Jharkhand, and Manoj Gochhayat and Shiva of Cuttack.

Sources said, Chaubey had received Rs 12 lakh from Odisha Stevedores Limited (OSL) to arrange a contract killer for Swain’s murder. Chaubey had reportedly engaged Hussain to kill Swain.