Industrialist and Orissa Stevedores limited (OSl) managing director Mahimananda Mishra on Friday moved the Orissa High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the case pertaining to the murder of Seaways Group general manager Mahendra Swain at Paradip on October 26.
Mishra also challenged in the court the lookout Circular issued against him by police, sources said.
OSl executive director Basant Bal, operation manager Subash Acharya and senior manager Debi Tripathy also approached the High Court for anticipatory bail, the sources added. Notably, police had issued the lookout Circular against Mishra and the others named in the FIR relating to Swain's murder.
Police had also conducted a raid on the OSl office here and sealed the firm's Bank of India account. Besides, personal accounts of Bal, Acharya and Tripathy were also frozen.
In another significant development, a day after the Jagatsinghpur district police issued a lookout Circular and subsequently raided his office at Paradip on Thursday, trade union and Congress leader Bapi Sarkhel reached the Raghunathpur police station on Friday evening along with hundreds of his supporters and trade unionists.
later he was taken to Paradip police station.
District Superintendent of Police JN Pankaj and other senior cops held a marathon interrogation of Sarkhel with regard to his relationship with Supari killer Rakesh Chaubey, the prime accused in the Swain murder case.
On the other hand, Sarkhel told the media that he has been falsely dragged into the murder case and that responding to the police query he himself appeared before police for interrogation and would cooperate in the police investigation.
Meanwhile, a day after being arrested in connection with Swain's murder, the five accused in the case were sent to jail on Friday after their bail petitions were rejected by the Kujang court, before which they were produced.
Police are likely to take prime accused Rakesh Chaubey and sharpshooter Riyasat Hussain on remand, sources said.
It may be recalled that on October 26, miscreants had opened fire at Swain near the Ambedkar Bhawan at Madhuban Colony in Paradip. Two miscreants had hurled crude hand bombs at the SUV by which Swain was going to his office.
While Swain was fleeing to save himself after alighting from the vehicle, the miscreants fired two rounds at him, leading to his death on the spot.