Brother of former BJD vice-president Kusha Apat and industrialist Naba Apat was arrested and remanded to judicial custody by the Barbil police on Monday for allegedly plotting the firing in the Barbanki forest under the Rugudi police station in Keonjhar district on June 2.
Sources said there is a business rivalry between Bidya Palei’s family, the owner of the Sushant Mineral company, and the Apat family, known to be close to Minister Badri Narayan Patra, over iron ore transporting from the Nugan Alluwalia mines of the Joda mining sector. In order to eliminate Palei from the path, Apat allegedly had hatched a plot with his driver Jacky Mahanta, a native of Jharkhand.
On June 2, four persons including Jacky had come by a Scorpio and opened three rounds of fire at another Scorpio thinking that Palei was in the vehicle. Harish Mahanta, Palei’s manager, was seriously injured by the bullets. later, Jacky surrendered before the police and disclosed everything.
Search is on to nab the other culprits, police said.