Barely after a week of an incident of firing at a hotel at the OT Road in the town, that took place on July 8 evening, the district police in a major breakthrough apprehended three accused persons, including the main accused and a minor, involved in the crime.
The accused were identified as Jajan Panigrahi (20) of village Meghadamburu under Sadar police station limits and Sandip Kumar Pati(19) of Niliabag village under Sahadevkhunta police station limits. The minor arrested is 17- year- old.
The adults while forwarded to court after being booked under various Sections of IPC and 25 and 27 of Arms Act, the minor involved in the case would be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, said SP B Jugal Kishore, in a Press brief on Monday.
He said different teams were formed to nab the accused persons after their identities were established. After failing to nab them from Bhubaneswar, on definite input Jajan, the principal accused and Sandip, were apprehended from Raipur, Chhattisgarh following raids.
“The mobile phones and the movement of the accused duo while were under the surveillance of the police, Jajan and his main accomplice were tracked and apprehended from Raipur where they were hiding,” said Kishore.
The accused trio in a Pulsar make bike after arriving near the hotel, Zaika International, opened three rounds aiming the hotel and sped away.
They inquired from the security staff of the hotel about the owner and when the latter said he was not available, Jajan opened the fire.
According to the complainant, the owner of the hotel, Sudarshan Pradhan (36), a demand was made to him from unknown mobile phone numbers for a ransom of Rs 15 lakh for protection of his hotel.
However, he had ignored the calls. While one of the rounds pierced through the front glass of the hotel luckily no one was hurt although six guests were in the hotel at that period around 7.30 pm.
The CCTV footage of the hotel had captured the photographs of the accused. The police had seized the used bike and mobile phones.