A day after the broad daylight murder of a city-based businessman’s wife Bachansudha Pattanayak (53) at Sabar Sahi in Rasulgarh area, the Commissionerate Police have started a manhunt to nab the security guard who is still absconding.
Dipti Ranjan Patnaik, the security guard at the house of the deceased, is suspected to be the prime accused in the case.
According to the police, in the morning shift of the fateful day, security guard Kanhu Charan Nayak was relieved from duty and then Diptiranjan replaced him for the second shift, half an hour late. After the murder took place, the police had recovered a blood stained shirt, a vanity bag, a mobile phone and a knife from a drain behind the residence. Besides, the police found a liquor bottle and a plastic glass from the site which confirms that the murderer was a drunkard and before committing the crime, he had consumed wine.
Police sources said the pet dog was brought from upper floor to the ground on the day which strengthens the suspicion on the guard. The police were expecting that the guard might have entered the room with an intention to rob the house owner and when the deceased restricted him, the miscreant repeatedly stabbed her. “After nabbing the guard, we can tell exact cause of the murder,” clarifiedBhubaneswar DCP Nitinjit Singh.
Singh said that they had detained four persons, including head of Rajendra Security Services Purna Chandra Muduli who had deployed the security guard on the day at Bachansudha’s residence. The motive of the murder will come to the fore after interrogating the guard, he added.
To know more about the guard, the police have seized relevant documents from the security agency which was run in the city without a valid licence. A scientific team along with the police has started an investigation into the high profile murder.
The autopsy report has confirmed that the woman was stabbed with a knife for six times — on forehead, neck and shoulders.
Her death in her dining room was due to profuse bleeding, said the report.
Meanwhile, the police conducted a raid at Diptiranjan’s parental home at Nuabazaar under Niali police station limits in Cuttack district on Wednesday night. He was staying at Arati Apartment of Prachi Vihar in Palasuni area. He had joined the security agency one and a half months ago.
On the other hand, employees of Madhukan Agro Automobiles Pvt ltd, the unit owned by the deceased and her husband on Thursday staged a protest in front of Mancheswar police station demanding immediate arrest of the culprit who is still absconding. Even Ward no-5 corporator Pratap Rout blamed the police for not taking swift action to check rising crime in the city.
“If the police fail to arrest the culprit, we will take to the streets,” he added.
Bachansudha’s body was cremated at Satyanagar crematorium here. Her daughter Sonali Rashmi Pattnaik, a banker inHong Kong, reached here in the morning after hearing the death of her mother.