VSP official murder: Police locate guest house in Odisha capital where he stayed

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jan 9, 2015 at 9:19 PM Updated On : Jan 10, 2015 at 11:12 AM

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Jan 9:

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The Commissionerate Police got a major breakthrough today when it located the guest house in the Odisha capital where murdered Assistant General Manager (AGM) of Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) I Surya Prasad Rao had stayed along with four other persons on January 4.

The Namha Sai guest House where slain VSP AGM I Surya Prasad Rao stayed on January 4 — The Namha Sai Guest House where slain VSP AGM I Surya Prasad Rao stayed on January 4

Rao’ s body was recovered by the police the next morning from near the Hanuman Mandir behind Sainik School in VSS Nagar area under Saheed Nagar police limits.

Investigation by the Commissionerate Police has revealed that the deceased had stayed in a guest house named Namha Sai Guest House located under Infocity police limits.

According to an employee of the guest house, a person named Kulamani Rout hailing from Khordha district had booked two rooms on January 4. He had clearly mentioned two places in the address column – Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Bhubaneswar – and the purpose of the stay as ‘business’ in the guest house register while checking in.

There was complete confusion over where Rao stayed during the crucial night when the murder obviously took place. Rao’s younger son had told the Commissionerate Police that his father had talked to him at about 10.40 in the night on January 4 and had told him that he was staying with one Koteswara Rao in Kharavela Nagar area here. But Commissionerate Police failed to locate any person by that name living in the area.

With the guest house being located today, the police team believes it is a step closer to reaching the persons(s) who murdered the senior VSP executive.

Based on the leads it has got so far, Commissionerate Police suspects that an interstate gang of fraudsters was involved in the murder of the AGM.

In this connection the police have detained two persons and are interrogating them to ferret out information that would help them reach the culprits.

A fraudster gang of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh had planned and committed the heinous crime by involving one of the close relatives of the deceased, a senior police officer said.