The Brahmapur police have arrested three persons in connection with the beheading of anti-liquor activist Brundaban Jani at Palaspur village under the Jarada police station in Ganjam district on August 17.
The three arrested accused were identified as Parsuram Sabar (45), Niranjan Sabar (26), both natives of Palaspur and Kaibalya Sabar (32) alias Karji of village Sunaribada.
Police have also seized the weapon of offence, a chopper from their possession.
Earlier, police had began investigation after registering a case after Brundaban’s wife, Jani lodged a complaint at the Jarada police station on August 20 that some unidentified persons have brutally killed his husband.
Brahmapur SP Sarvana Vivek M said Karji, who was staying in his in-laws house in Palaspur, used to brew and sell country liquor along with Parsuram in the village. This was opposed by Brundaban, who used to rally the villagers against the illegal liquor trade.
On the day, before he had caught the duo red-handed selling liqior in the village. He reprimanded them and asked them to refrain from the activity.
Miffed with this, the duo hatched a conspiracy along with Niranjan and decided to eliminate Braundaban.
On the fateful, when Brundaban had gone to the his farmland to guard his crops, the trio went to the spot. Finding Brundaban asleep, they severed his head with the chopper, said the SP.
The arrested trio were forwarded to court under the relevant sections of the IPC, said the SP.
Later, they dumped the body in Thakurani canal and threw the head in a village’s farmland,