Ex-officer held over 'involvement' in abduction, murder of lensman

Manas Kumar Swain’s body was found in a paddy field under Ranpur police station in Nayagarh district on March 12, nearly a month after his disappearance

TT Correspondent   |   Bhubaneswar   |   22.03.22  : A former director (technical) of Odisha’s information and public relations department was arrested on Monday for his alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of a cameraman.

So far police have arrested five persons in connection with the murder of 28-year old cameraman Manas Kumar Swain. Swain’s body was found in a paddy field under Ranpur police station in Nayagarh district on March 12, nearly a month after his disappearance.

“We have arrested Niranjan Sethi following an intensive interrogation into the murder case of Manas Swain. Sethi was involved in the abduction and murder of the cameraman. We are on the lookout for the other accused, including Sarmistha Rout, the Web channel owner under whom Manas was working as a cameraman,” additional superintendent of police (Bhadrak) Jatin Panda told reporters on Monday.

Police have slapped cases under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder), against 60-year-old Sethi.

According to police report, Swain was working in a Bhubaneswar-based Web channel and magazine owned by Sarmistha Rout. However, a rift had developed between him and Sarmistha after she asked him to return a chip that contained some controversial videos and photos. That chip had gone missing. Swain left the job and started working as a freelance cameraman just before his murder.

Sarmistha, who owns an ashram (Dayal) in Bhubaneswar for the elderly, was upset with Swain after he refused to return the chip despite repeated pleas. Later, Sarmistha allegedly hatched a plot to kill him. Swain went missing while returning from a wedding in Bhadrak, about 120km from Bhubaneswar, on February 7.

“During investigation, it was found that on the same day, they took Swain to Bhubaneswar and assaulted him brutally in a room of Dayal ashram and then killed him. Then they shifted the body to Badhi Patna under Ranpur police station in Nayagarh district and buried it at an isolated place in a paddy field,” police said in a press release.

Police sources said Sarmistha who enjoyed a good rapport with Sethi, sought his help in the matter.

Sarmistha had successfully registered her magazine with the information and public relations department with the help of Sethi, sources said.

“Sethi was present at the ashram where Swain was beaten and later murdered. He hatched the plot of Swain’s kidnapping along with the prime accused Sarmistha. The memory chip in Swain’s possession was the main motive behind the murder,” police said.

The facts came to light after an FIR was lodged with the police about Swain’s disappearance on February 14.

Police formed several teams to crack the case. After almost one month, they were able to get a lead following the arrest of three kidnappers — Bhagyadhar Nayak, Bibek Nayak and Krushna Chandra Nayak on March 12. During the interrogation, they confessed that they had killed Swain and buried his body at the behest of Sarmistha.

Sarmistha’s mobile phone that the police had seized also helped crack the case.