Five more accused persons allegedly involved in the slaying of Chhatrapur BJD Councilor laxmidutta Pradhan were arrested by the Ganjam police on Tuesday, taking the total arrests to 13 in the case.
Addressing a Press meet here, Ganjam SP Asish Singh informed that all the five accused, who have been arrested, were part of the gang that had brutally hacked to death laxmiduttta outside his house at lIC Colony in Chhatrapur on September 16.
The accused have been identified as Santosh Sethi, Prashant Behera, Sanjay Gaud, Chiku alias Ayushman Mohapatra and Banoj Nayak.
Prime accused Santosh Sethi along with four others were present on the spot and were seen attacking laxmidutta on the CCTV footage that was recovered from the spot. Santosh played a major role in organising the group, leading them to the house of the councillor and assaulting him, Singh said.
Earlier, police on September 22 had arrested eight miscreants involved in the murder of laxmidutta. Police then had recovered sword and other weapons used in the crime.
“During interrogation of all the accused, we have found evidence regarding involvement of a few persons including one Krushna Chandra Nayak and another Duryodhan Reddy in the planning and execution of the murder,” said Singh.
The SP further informed that the group had earlier planned to eliminate laxmidutta two to three times in the past one year. However, they had not succeeded in their attempts.
“We will bring all the five accused on a five-day remand to extract more information regarding the involvement of other accused in planning, financing and execution of the crime,” Singh added.
The murder was due to old enmity but the police are investigating into all angles including political rivalry. Teams are working to seize the swords used by the accused in the crime and the apparels they were wearing during the incident. Two police teams are now on the trail of the other accused, who are still on the run.