Police clueless on liquor shop manager murder in Odisha capital

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 4:

Two days after the murder of a liquor shop manager in Odisha capital, Commissionerate Police has not been able to make any significant progress in the case.

Still clueless about the motive behind the killing of Aditya Pradhan, the police is exploring the prior enmity and loot angles to take the investigation forward.

“We are looking at all possible angles. We are searching for the criminals who killed the manager. We have also detained members of some gangs for questioning,” said commissioner Dr Rajendra Prasad Sharma.

Commissionerate police has also sent a team to Jagatsinghpur to look at the prior enmity angle. His colleague Sukesh, who escaped the attack by fleeing the scene, is being questioned and a background check is being carried out on Aditya (deceased) to find out if he was involved in any crime earlier.

Ashis, the liquor shop owner, however, is confident about the loot angle. He said that the criminals were aware of Aditya’s movement and the time when he closes the shop and delivers him money at his home.

“It was a planned attack. He doesn’t have any enemy. If I have any enemy, why should they attack him?” questioned the shop owner.

The miscreants attacked Aditya brutally and left him unconscious after street dogs started barking loudly. While the PCR never reached the spot to rescue the victim, the 108 ambulance arrived at the scene after receiving calls from locals and took the victim to Capital Hospital.

The dead body of Aditya was taken to his village after the post-mortem at the Capital Hospital and his last rites were performed amidst a gloomy atmosphere.

His colleague Sukesh had fled the scene after being chased by the goons and hid by the side of a wall. He later called the liquor shop owner Ashis and informed him about the incident. He also briefed the cops based on which they have created a sketch of the culprits. The attackers were tall and strongly built as per the description of Sukesh.

Khurda District Foreign Liquor Business Owners’ Association has reacted sharply to the incident and has raised the unsolved issue where a liquor salesman Raja Nayak was shot fatally at a liquor shop in Patrapada near Bhubaneswar suburbs.

The situation remains tense in Bhubaneswar and the business community in particular is worried about frequent attacks on the fraternity.