Bhubaneswar: Police on Friday arrested two men, Asish Singh (24) and Karama Singh (22), for killing their friend Chandan Swain (32) in Mayurbhanj district last week. Cops recovered the victim’s body from the river bed.
Chandan, who worked as a supervisor in his uncle’s garment factory in Bengaluru, befriended Asish at the workplace a few months ago. Chandan recently quit the job and started living in Bhubaneswar. Last week, Chandan invited Asish to Bhubaneswar, where the duo devised a plan to stage Chandan’s kidnapping, aiming to extract Rs 50 lakh from his uncle. They agreed to divide the ransom money between themselves.
“However, driven by greed to acquire the entire amount, Asish turned against his friend Chandan, killing him with a sharp weapon and partially burning the body before burying it in Budhabalanga riverbed on Dec 21 night. Chandan was drunk and could not resist,” deputy inspector general (eastern range), Satyajit Naik, told TOI.
Subsequently, Asish contacted Chandan’s uncle from the deceased’s phone to demand the ransom. Police unravelled the motive when some locals spotted the buried body on Thursday evening after it surfaced following displacement of sand by the wind.
“We found a phone number written on a piece of paper in the deceased’s trousers. The phone number belonged to the deceased’s kin in Bhubaneswar, who lodged a complaint at Kharavel Nagar police station after receiving the ransom call. During verification of the call records of Chandan, we found out about the involvement of Asish,” said SP (Mayurbhanj) ,Varun Guntupalli.
Police arrested Asish by tracking his phone near Balasore. During his interrogation, police learned about his friend Karama’s involvement in the offence. Police said Karama assisted Asish in burying Chandan’s body in the riverbed. Karama and Asish belonged to Mayurbhanj, whereas Chandan hailed from Kendrapada district, the police said.