BJD Banki MLA Pravat Tripathy arrested by CBI, suspended from party

BHUBANESWAR: Finally the CBI arrested former Odisha Government chief whip and Banki BJD MLA Pravat Tripathy on Friday for his link with chit fund company Artha Tatwa (AT) Group that duped thousands of investors in the State. 

It was informed by the Chief Information Officer of the CBI Kanchan Prasad in the evening. Prasad said Tripathy was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy and the allegation that he had received huge sum from the AT Group.

Soon after the CBI arrested Tripathy, the BJD suspended him from the party. After few minutes of the announcement, the party issued a Press release saying BJD president Naveen Patnaik suspended the Banki BJD MLA from the party.

After getting summon, Tripathy reached the CBI office at around 4.30pm and entered the office to be quizzed by the CBI sleuths. He was interrogated about the Best Cooperator prize given to AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy in 2011 and alleged relation with chit fund firm Swastik India founder Ranjan Das, sources said. 

Notably, the CBI on August 16 conducted raids on the houses of Tripathy at Banki and at Kaligali in Cuttack and had seized some important documents about his links with the AT Group. Later the Central Investigating agency had raided houses of his close associate Subash Padhi in Banki in order to get some possible leads to Tripathy’s financial transactions with the tainted chit fund company.

On September 15, Tripathy had moved to the High Court seeking anticipatory bail, apprehending that the CBI may arrest him anytime. On the very next day he was grilled for about six hours in connection with his alleged links with AT Group chief Pradeep Sethy.  

After his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the High Court on October 20, the CBI had summoned the MLA on October 25 and grilled in connection with the CD row.  

Triple murder case: Accused met doctor twice before murder

--Police investigating to know motive of murder

BHUBANESWAR: Snehaswakshar Samal, accused in the triple murder case that occurred at Khandagiri Vihar in the city on Wednesday morning, had met deceased orthopedic surgeon Dr Atulya C Meher twice this month, said a family member of the accused. 

Accused’s brother Satyasundar Samal said Snehaswakshar had taken an appointment from Dr Meher on October 3 for a health check up of his daughter. After checkup, the detail report came on October 9 and Snehaswakshar met the doctor on the very next day, he added.

Satyasundar said his brother never met the doctor before October 3. “We also don’t know what happened on October 10 and what prompted him to do such an incident,” he said. 

Sources said the police found a prescription from the accused’s pocket that prescribed to buy medicines meant for patients with abnormal behavior. The police also recovered a paper chart having details of the doctor and about his family. “It seems the accused had kept detail information about the doctor and gave final touch to his plan on Wednesday morning,” police sources said.

Twin City Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma on Thursday said reporters here that the accused used to keep knife always with him. He was giving online order to get the knives, he added.   

Dr Sharma said motive of the accused is yet to be known. “As the accused is undergoing treatment, we could not interrogate him now. But we will quiz him very soon to know the motive of the murder,” he added.

The Commissioner of the Police said condition of Runu Behera, who was grievously injured in the attack, was stable.   

  

One held for cheating city jewellery shop

BHUBANESWAR: The Commissionerate Police on Thursday arrested one Balaram Martha of Nayagarh district in connection with a fraud case. 

According to reports, Martha had purchased gold weighing 450 gm worth Rs 14.60 lakh from HM Jewellers of the city a few days ago. During the purchase, the Jewellery shop told Martha to deposit Rs 13 lakh curtailing the discount amount. 

Martha deposited the entire amount in bank cheques which was later bounced back to the Jewellery shop. When the shop owner told the buyer about the checque bounce, Martha said he would deposit all the money by cash. 

Later Martha mortgaged all the gold in a financial firm in the city and got Rs 8.60 lakh. Out of the total amount, he deposited only Rs 7 lakh and requested the shop owner to give some time to deposit the rest Rs 6 lakh. 

The shop owner finally agreed in the proposal of Martha. But when the buyer didn’t turn up in time and avoided phone call several times, the shop owner lodged a complaint with the Kharvela Nagar police on October 13. The police arrested the accused and produced before a local Court.

Two laptop looters held in Odisha capital

BHUBANESWAR: The Special Squad of the Commissionerate Police on Wednesday arrested two youths, including a B Tech student, for their alleged role in looting laptops from city hostels.

The police seized 18 numbers of laptop from their possession worth more than Rs 6 lakh.

The accused were identified as Abhitesh Nayak alias Milu (22) of Cuttack district presently staying at Rajarani Colony near Rabi Talkies under the Badagada police limits and Manoj Kumar Khatua (27) of Pathuripada under the Banki police limits in Cuttack.

Addressing reporters here, Twin City Commissioner of Police (CP) Dr RP Sharma said, acting on a tip-off, the Special Squad and the Kharvela Nagar police conducted raids in the city two days back and nabbed the youths.

Abhitesh, a B Tech graduate from a city-based engineering college, was the mastermind of the laptop loot cases. He used to loot these gadgets in early morning, when hostel inmates were out of the room for classes, and in evening hours, when they visit to markets for purchase of their goods.

Out of the seized items, six were HP laptops, four Dell, two Lenovo, two Samsung, one Sony, two Compaq and one IBM. The police recovered 14 laptops from Abhitesh, while the rest others were seized from Manoj.

Both the accused were involved in several cases registered at Kharvela Nagar, Saheed Nagar, Khandagiri, Infocity and Airfield police stations. “Investigation is on to verify other antecedents of the accused,” Dr Sharma said.

Bhubaneswar shocked by heinous triple murder

--Doctor killed in front of his mother

CCTV footage

BHUBANESWAR: In a shocking incident, three persons, including a doctor, were stabbed to death by a man at Khandagiri square in the city on Tuesday morning. The gruesome murder happened just a few metres away from the famous historical site Khandagiri and Udaygiri. 

The accused was identified as Snehashis Samal of Sailashree Vihar of the city. The Commissionerate Police arrested Samal and admitted him in a private hospital in the city. 

According to sources, Samal in the morning came to the residence (plot number 113/C) of senior Orthopedic Surgeon Dr Atulya C Meher at Khandagiri Vihar and knocked the front gate to meet the doctor. When the residence’s caretaker Prashanta Behera (50) came, Samal told him to call Dr Meher. Showing a fresh flower bouquet to Behera, he clarified that he came to wish him for a successful operation. 

After a few minutes, Dr Meher came to the portico and wondered what happened. At the same time, Samal suddenly stabbed the doctor leaving him dead on the spot. When Behera along with his son Manu (16) and wife Runu (35) protested, the assailant attacked them too. In the scuffle, Behera and his son died on the spot, while Runu was critically injured. The attacker was also injured in the fight. 

After the fight, locals said, the well-dressed assailant came out of the residence with his blood stained knife dress. He shouted in front of Dr Meher’s house and walked like a normal man towards Khandagiri hill road connecting NH-5 leaving his Honda Activa scooter near the spot. 

The local people nabbed the accused and called PCR van for immediate help, but the PCR staff allegedly responded in late and reached the spot a little later.  

Critically injured Runu was undergoing treatment at the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack. Her condition was stated to be critical.

Twin City Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma along with Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi, other police officers and a scientific team reached the spot and started interrogating Dr Meher’s wife to find out the reason behind the heinous murder.

“The actual reason is yet to be known,” said Dr Sharma, adding, “We are investigating the incident from all angles to ascertain the actual reason behind the crime. We will also interrogate the culprit as well as the doctor’s wife to proceed in the case.”   

Dr Sharma said Samal, a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree holder, was a medicine representative five years back. He has a medicine store at Kanan Vihar in Patia area in the city, he added. 

The Commissioner of Police said the doctor was staying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before moving to Odisha six months ago. The doctor was working as an orthopedic surgeon in a private hospital in the city, he added.  

Police sources said that it was a pre-planned murder. The accused killed the doctor in front of his mother, the police said.  

Meanwhile, the police recovered footage of the two CCTV cameras installed outside Dr Meher’s house to get further detail about the incident. The police also seized Samal’s bike, sharp weapons and flower bouquet from the spot.

Thank God, Hudhud severity less in Odisha

--Communication affected in some dists as trees fall on road

BHUBANESWAR: Thank God, finally Odisha got spared from the eye of cyclonic storm Hudhud that hit the coast at Pudimadaka, about 50 km from Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday noon. The people of the State heaved a sigh of relief after they escaped from a danger. 

Though the south Odisha districts, Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput and Malkangiri, experienced a wind speed of 60-70 kmph along with intermittent rainfall in the afternoon, the people felt relatively relieved from an expected fury of the nature.  

The people, who have experienced wind speed of 270-80 kmph during the Super Cyclone in 1999 and 210-20 kmph during Phailin in 2013, were much worried about the Hudhud’s movement. But the fear has gone when the India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted that intensity of the storm would decrease after six hours of its landfall. 

Under the influence of Hudhud, trees in several areas of the south Odisha districts got damaged and fell on the road as a result of which roads were blocked and communication was hit. Around 50 mud houses were collapsed due to heavy rain in Koraput, Ganjam, Gajapati and Malkangiri districts. 

As it was a new experience for the people of Koraput and Malkangiri, the cyclone prediction and evacuation by the administration created fear among the people of these tribal dominated areas. Koraput districts’ Pottangi area, which is in the border of Andhra Pradesh, witnessed heavy rainfall. Around 15 houses were damaged in the storm, reports said. 

In Ganjam, the situation was bit normal despite a wind speed of 70-80 kmph in the district. One Udaynath Sahu of Siddheswar village under the Digapahandi police limits in the district was killed when wall of his house fell on him. 

Situation of Rayagada and Malkangiri was also normal after landfall of the storm. No eventuality was reported by the evening. 

Similarly, Gajapati district also witnessed heavy rainfall of 304 mm. The district administration has evacuated around 57000 people and sheltered them in 643 cyclone shelters in the district expecting post landfall effect of the storm.      

A curfew like situation prevailed all over the market and roads of south Odisha districts. The shops had been shut and there were virtually no vehicles on roads, reports added. 

Meanwhile, after landfall of cyclone Hudhud, the IMD bulletin said, the system would maintain the intensity of very severe cyclonic storm for six hours and gradually weaken into cyclonic storm in subsequent six hours while moving northwestwards across south interior Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Gale with speed reaching 100-120 kmph gusting to 130 kmph will prevail for six hours after landfall and 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph for subsequent six hours over East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of north Andhra Pradesh and Ganjam, Gajapati, Koraput and Malkangiri districts of Odisha, the bulletin said.

Squally winds with speed reaching 55-65 kmph gusting to 75 kmph would also prevail for the next 12 hours after landfall in south Chhattisgarh and adjoining districts of north Telangana and south Odisha, the IMD said.