‘Sarmistha tried to mislead police probe’
Even as the Crime Branch on Wednesday intensified its probe into the cameraman Manas Swain murder case, some startling facts came to light during interrogation of prime accused Sarmistha Rout.
The investigators during marathon grilling ascertained that she tried to mislead the police probe.
Sarmistha left her mobile phone in her flat and procured new SIM cards from different locations including Bhadrak and Kolkata to stay in contact with her relatives. She purchased an SIM Card in Bhadrak and two more in Kolkata. Her associate Jhuna Bhoi helped her in all these activities, said the Crime Branch.
Though Sarmistha had confessed that she had got back the memory chip from Manas, she has not disclosed what she had done with it. She claimed that the memory chip contained her wedding photographs.
Meanwhile, the postmortem report of Manas which was availed by police stated that Manas was kept starving for a long time and was attacked with sharp weapons and iron rods. This caused fracture in his ribcage and deep injury in chest. The excessive bleeding due to this led to his death, the report stated.
