Bhubaneswar: Additional District and Sessions Court, Bhubaneswar has acquitted all six accused in the high-profile 2009 murder case of Manas Ranjan Nayak, a warder at the Jharpada Special Jail, citing a lack of conclusive evidence.
The Additional District and Sessions Judge cleared Bikram Mallick, Mihirkant Tripathy, Shivram Sahu, N Venkat Rao Dora, Kanhu Charan Mishra, and Debashish Bhoi, bringing a close to the 15-year-old legal proceedings. The case, which had initially involved eight individuals, saw two of the accused pass away during the trial.
Nayak was shot dead by unidentified assailants in front of the Jharpada Special Jail on the evening of November 1, 2009—an incident that sent shockwaves through the city and prompted an intensive police investigation.
In reaching its verdict, the court meticulously examined a substantial body of evidence, including the testimonies of 36 witnesses and 72 documents presented by the prosecution. Despite these efforts, the evidence was ultimately deemed insufficient to secure a conviction against the six surviving accused.
