During the ongoing investigations into the murder case of cameraman Manas Swain, police on Tuesday arrested the brother of prime accused Sarmistha Rout, who is still on the run.
Police nabbed Parameswar Rout from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. Pararemswar had allegedly prepared the blueprint for his sister’s escape following murder of the cameraman.
Police, who are yet to trace Sarmistha’s hideout, might extract more information about her whereabouts by interrogating her brother.
Meanwhile, the deceased cameraman’s wife alleged involvement of Ministers Pratap Jena and Dibya Shankar Mishra in the murder of her husband.
She further alleged that some more influential people and other Ministers are also involved in the killing. Manas had a memory chip containing some illegal activities of the Ministers and Sarmistha and, therefore, they hatched a conspiracy to eliminate him fearing that the truth would be revealed, she alleged.
Demanding immediate arrest of all the accused, Manas' wife also threatened to kill herself in front of the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik if justice is not done to her.
Earlier in the day, Bhadrak SP Charan Singh Meena refuted the allegations that police were ‘under pressure’ in the cameraman’s murder case, as a result of which the probe is moving at a snail’s pace. “We are putting the best efforts to nab accused Sarmistha Rout and her associate,” Meena said.
He said the Bhadrak police had summoned Sarmistha twice to a police station and let her go after formal questioning. When asked why the police allowed her to go, Meena said her involvement was not established by then. “Her involvement in the case surfaced only after the arrest of three accused and recovery of the cameraman’s body later,” he said.
He said he has no knowledge about the photograph of Bhadrak ASP Jatin Panda with Sarmistha.
Earlier, two photos featuring Sarmistha and some police officers, including Panda at an event held at the Bhadrak Special Sub-Jail in November 2021 have come to the fore.
However, police while investigating into the mobile phone call details of arrested former Information and Public Relations Director (Technical) Niranjan Sethi ascertained that he used to telephone Sarmistha 20 to 30 times a day after Manas went missing.
Inmates of the Dayal Ashram old age home on the outskirts of Sundarpada in Bhubaneswar, which was run by Sarmistha, said Sethi used to visit the place frequently.
Police sources further said Sethi had telephoned Manas more than 100 times after February 3, for which he came under the scanner of the investigators.