Five of the seven accused, involved in the brutal assault on two close relatives of senior Congress leader and the newly-elected Jeypore MlA Tara Prasad Bahinipati, surrendered before the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) at Jeypore in Koraput district on Monday morning.
The other two accused, Dharemendra Adhikari alias Kuni, the expelled District Biju Yuva Janata Dal president, and Ranjit Bagh, are still absconding.
The accused Chiranjibi Patnaik, Sanjay Suna, Hrudananda Nayak, Bapi Parida and Rajendra Sahu surrendered before JMFC Sudhir Kumar Mishra after absconding since the midnight of April 10-11 when the attack took place.
The court remanded the accused to judicial custody till the next hearing.
It may be mentioned that seven youths had launched a murderous assault on Tara Prasad Bahinipati’s brother Tuna Bahinipati and nephew Gupta Prasad Mohapatra in room no-217 of Hotel Madhumati after the conclusion of the State’s first-phase elections for the Jeypore Assembly seat.
Tara Prasad Bahinipati had also mentioned the name of former Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda’s son Aditya alias Bonti Nanda for his alleged involvement in the case. The police interrogated Bonti Nanda in Bhubaneswar but found no clues against him, sources said.
Bahinipati, it may be noted, defeated Rabi Nanda in the election. Bahinipati said, “Police knowingly did not arrest the culprits at the behest of Rabi Narayan Nanda and showed negligence in the case.”
