Two held for killing de-addiction centre counsellor in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 2:

Commissionerate Police arrested two inmates of a de-addiction centre on the outskirts of Odisha capital for their alleged complicity in the killing of the counsellor, police said today.

The two absconding inmates–Jyoti and Saroj—were arrested by Mancheswar police late on Friday night. The duo will be produced in court today.

Three teams were formed by the Mancheswar police to nab the culprits behind the incident. The teams led by Mancheswar police station Inspector Himanshu Swain were conducting raids at various places to apprehend them.

Notably, the deceased Sumit Ranjan Behera, hailing from Rajkanika in Kendrapara district, was working with a de-addication centre—Prayas– at Naharkanta as counsellor-cum-caretaker since 2010.

As per reports, some of the inmates wanted to celebrate Christmas and New Year celebrations outside the centre which was rejected by Behera.

On December 29, the 20-year-old was tied up, beaten before strangulating him to death to get away from the Centre. The counsellor had to pay with his life for resisting the inmates who were demanding for the keys to escape from the facility. Following the incident, around 36 inmates of the de-addiction facility ran away.

On the subsequent day, four of the absconders were apprehended by police.

Police suspect involvement of arond 5-6 persons behind the incident.