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Bhubaneswar, Oct 22 (IANS) With the arrest of 12 people, the police have finally solved the sensational case of brutal murder of BJP leader and senior lawyer Pitabash Panda, who was shot dead near his residence in Baidyanathpur police station area in Odisha’s Berhampur on October 6.
Those arrested include former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA and party district president Bikram Kumar Panda and his close associates, District Superintendent of Police, Saravana Vivek M. revealed on Wednesday.
Other persons arrested by the police for their involvement in the case are former mayor of Berhampur Municipality, Shivshankar Dash alias Pintu, Malaya Kumar Bisoi, Madan Mohan Dalai – both lawyers and said to be close associates of BJD leader Bikram, and Kalucharan Bhuiyan, Bipin Swain, Chintu Pradhan etc.
Berhampur police revealed that the investigation was initiated by forming six teams of the district police to uncover the conspiracy behind the murder and arrest the accused killers.
Police discovered during investigation that former BJD MLA Bikram Panda and his close aide and former mayor Pintu Das, both had conspired to eliminate deceased BJP leader Pitabash Panda due to financial and political reasons as well as personal enmity with the victim BJP leader.
Accused Pintu Das had personal enmity with Pitabash Panda, who was a lawyer in the case related to the murder of Shanti Mishra, a close aide and friend of the former mayor.
Pintu held Pitabash responsible for the delay in the trial of his friend’s murder case and the release of some of the main accused involved in the 2013 murder.
Meanwhile, the former mayor also blamed Pitabash’s instigation for the attempt to murder him by one of the accused, Mauza Mishra, who was out on bail and has absconded.
Pintu Das has also filed two cases in which the deceased BJP leader has been mentioned as an accused.
Pintu Das also believed that he was not given the MLA ticket because of the influence of Pitabas Panda.
On the other hand, Pintu Das, who has 38 criminal cases against his name, was in jail for almost four years. After being released from bail, he was in regular touch with BJD leader Bikram Panda.
Both the accused, former MLA Bikram Panda and victim Pitabash Panda, were close friends since their college days.
However, in 2018, when Bikram switched parties, Pitabash decided not to follow him, creating a rift between them.
Over time, the former friends became arch rivals and started harming each other socially, economically and politically, thereby deepening the animosity between them.
Later, Pintu Das and Bikram Panda conspired to eliminate Pitabash and enlisted Malaya Bisoi, Madan Dalai to execute the assassination plan through hired sharpshooters from Bihar.
The accused conspirators agreed to pay Rs 50 lakh for the murder.
However, the plan failed due to personal problems of the hired sharpshooters. Later, he engaged Kurupatti Bhuiyan and Chintu Pradhan of Banthapalli village in Ganjam district, who shot dead Pitabash near his house on October 6.
Berhampur SP also told media persons that raids are underway to arrest three more accused, including Uma Bisoyee and Kurupatti, who are still absconding.
–IANS
gyan/pgh