Crime Branch to take Sabyasachi on remand

BHUBANESWAR: The State Crime Branch would take arrested top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda on police remand for 10 days in three different cases, said Crime Branch ADG BK Sharma on Wednesday. 

Sharma said the Crime Branch on Wednesday requested the Phulbani SDJM court to allow them for taking Panda on five-day remand for interrogation in Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader and Kandhamal seer Laxmanananda Saraswati murder case. 

Similarly, Sharma said, the investigating agency also urged the Nayagarh SDJM court to allow them for taking the Maoist leader on five-day remand in Nayagarh armory loot case and killing of policemen. 

The ADG said, “They will first interrogate Panda regarding loot of armory in Nayagarh and killing of policemen in the district. We will also interrogate the Red rebel about the motive of killing the VHP leader and his pupils at Chakapada in Kandhamal district.”     

Sharma said they would grill the Maoist leader at the Crime Branch headquarters at Cuttack instead of Phulbani or Nayagarh or Brahmapur. Though they didn’t know exactly about the remand date, but the Crime Branch hope that they would take Panda on remand after the completion of Brahmapur police’s remand period, said official sources in the Crime Branch.