The Paradip police have arrested five people in connection with the murder of Seaways Group general manager Mahendra Swain, informed Central Range IG Soumendra Priyadarshi on Thursday.
“The prime accused in the incident is Rakesh Chaubey of Jamshedpur. Another person identified as Riyasat Hussain of Jamshedpur hurled bombs and opened fire at Swain. He was assisted by Muhammad Samin of Jharkhand. Manoj Gochhayat and Shiva of Cuttack were also involved in the incident,” Priyadarshi said.
“The probe (so far) reveals that the Odisha Stevedores limited (OSl) is involved in hatching the murder conspiracy. Stevedoring dispute is the reason behind the incident. Investigation into the matter is on, and other accused will be arrested soon,” he said.
“Police have seized three guns, 50 rounds of bullets, three bikes, an XUV-500 bearing registration number of Jharkhand and an auto-rickshaw during investigation,” he added.
Sources said Chaubey had received Rs12 lakh from the OSl to arrange a contract killer for Swain’s murder. Chaubey had reportedly engaged Hussain to kill Swain.
It may be recalled that on October 26, shots were fired at Swain near the Ambedkar Bhawan at Madhuban Colony in Paradip. Two miscreants hurled crude hand bombs at the SUV by which Swain was travelling. While Swain was fleeing to save himself after alighting from the vehicle, miscreants fired two rounds at him leading to his death.
lookout Circulars were issued against industrialist and OSl owner Mahimananda Mishra and others named in the FIR pertaining to Swain’s murder.