Finally, after 11 days of the murder of journalist Tarun Kumar Acharya of Khallikote area, the Ganjam police led by Southern Range DIG Amitabh Thakur have succeeded to nab two persons involved in the crime.
They were identified as P Shyamsundar Prusty (31), a known cashew nut businessman of Khallikote area, and Prusty’s associate Ramesh Reddy (28). Another two involved in the case are absconding, said the police.
Chatrapur SDPO Alekh Chandra Pahi on Sunday shared the latest information with reporters in Ganjam district regarding the findings of their investigation into the murder case.
Pahi said that Tarun’s report against cashew nut businessman’s hand in promoting crime in his locality had spelt trouble for the young journalist.
The SDPO said Prusty could not take the report easily and chalked out a plan to teach Tarun a lesson. He called two contract killers to Kasturi Hotel at Barkul on May 21 and gave Rs 50,000 in advance to kill Tarun. Prusty’s aide Ramesh helped the contract killers identify Tarun at Khallikote.
According to their plan, on May 27 evening, the contract killers and Ramesh followed the journalist while he was returning to his village Bikrampur and intercepted his motorcycle at a lonely place near Khallikote police station.
The trio attacked Tarun with sharp weapons and slit his throat. The police had seized two motorcycles used in the murder later. The duo was forwarded to a local court. “We have started a manhunt to nab other culprits involved in the case,” said Pahi.