The Cuttack city police on Thursday filed a chargesheet accusing at least 14 persons, including the mafia Dhalsamant brothers, in the sensational Dipu Mallick murder case of November 2013. While ten of the named accused persons have already been arrested, police in the meantime have obtained NBWs against the remaining four, who are on the run.
A Public Prosecutor informed the media that the investigating police officer (IO) has submitted the chargesheet running into more than 1,100 pages in the local SDJM Court after investigating the case for over four months and examining over 75 witnesses.
Following a court direction, the police had registered an FIR in this connection on January 18 after more than two years of the alleged murder under Section 364, 326, 307, 302, 120-B, 506, 201 and 34 of IPC. However, claiming that during the investigations they have obtained clinching evidences of murder, the minor Sections of 326, 307 and 506 of IPC were dropped from the chargesheet.
Basing on marathon investigations, the police had earlier claimed that the arrested Dhalsamant brothers with the help of others had abducted two of their estranged associates from the city on November 12, 2013, lynched them to death at a nearby farmhouse before disposing of the bodies in neighbouring Jharkhand State.
Police said the estranged associates Dipu Mallick and Om Prakash Swain, who earlier worked for the mafia brothers, were eliminated as they went out of control and posed a threat to them.
Although both the murders took place on the same day, at the same place and by the same accused as claimed by the police, it was not known as to why the police have registered two separate cases in this connection.
Sources said the IO is going to file the chargesheet in the Om Prakash murder case soon. It may be mentioned that following the arrest of the mafia brothers on January 29 this year, police on separate days arrested nearly 30 of their associates and slapped as many as 21 cases against them. Chargesheets in nine of these cases have been filed so far.
In a related development, the local SDJM on the day upheld its own judgement passed earlier to put the mafia brothers Sushant and Sushil Dhalasamant in two separate jails of the State on security grounds. The Orissa High Court had ordered the lower court to reconsider its judgement passed in March.