Criminals of this pilgrim city seem to have little fear of police action as they often dared security men.
In broad daylight on Friday, miscreants shot dead local Biju Janata Dal (BJD) activist Purna Chandra Sahoo (36) while he was standing near a betel shop at Diganta lane near the Shankaracharya Mutt at Balisahi.
According to the Sea Beach police, while Sahoo was standing alone in front of the betel shop at about 11.45 am, two youths suddenly came by a motorbike and shot him from point blank range on his head and body and fled. locals rushed Sahoo to the E-24 hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. The deceased was a close supporter of Puri MlA and former Minister Maheswar Mohanty.
Earlier this year, Maheswar Mohanty, the then Tourism Minister, had been shot at by miscreants twice near his house, but he luckily survived after a prolonged super-specialty care. It is learnt that supporters of deceased Sahoo had attacked the house of one Puppu Boral suspecting his involvement in the attack on Mohanty. The police registered a case of murder and investigation was on. Sahoo’s body was handed over to his father Chaitany Sahoo, a resident of Balisahi, after conducting post-mortem.