Three persons were on Wednesday arrested by Sambalpur police for their alleged involvement in the murder of one Chinmaya Naik (25) of Gandhinagar in Hirakud town on February 28.
The three are Rabi Pradhan(45), Shankar Sahu (43) and Bira Das (35). Chinmaya’s body was found at Alind Chowk under Hirakud police limits on March 1. Subsequently, a murder case was registered.
After failing to make any headway into the murder case for over two months, police zeroed in on footage of the CCTV installed on the premises of Hindalco Industries Limited (HIL) at Alind Chowk. On examination of the footage, police spotted Pradhan and Sahu disposing the body of Chinmaya.
Sambalpur SP Prateek Mohanty said Chinmaya had an illicit relationship with Pradhan’s wife. Apparently, Pradhan has 21 criminal cases pending against him in different police stations and runs a restaurant in Hirakud town. He had procured a firearm and three ammunitions from Bira of Cheruapara in Sambalpur on February 25 which was used in the murder.
On the fateful day, Chinmaya had gone to Subash Ground in Hirakud town to watch a football match. When he received a call from Pradhan’s wife who runs a bus ticket booking counter in the town, Chinmaya rushed to her. Suspecting some foul play, Pradhan followed him to the counter and later found his wife and Chinmaya in a compromising position. Infuriated, Pradhan attacked them with the firearm injuring his wife on her head and killing Chinmaya on the spot.
After the murder, Pradhan sought help of Sahu who worked in his restaurant and they took the body in a motorcycle to dispose it at Chowk. Pradhan then returned the firearm to Bira who was also arrested later.
