Bhubaneswar: Police arrested another suspect from Koraput in connection with the killing of BJP leader and advocate Pitabash Panda.
According to reports, Berhampur police have brought in Sunil Hota, a businessman from Jeypore on charges of sheltering the accused in the Pitabash Panda murder case. Hota was picked up from Sriramnagar after a dedicated Berhampur police team coordinated with Jeypore Town police.
It came to the fore during investigation that Hota harboured accused Uma Bisoi and Kurupati Bhuyan at a brick factory at Tatibeda village near Jeypore town. He is known to be a close associate of Bikram Panda. After Jeypore police traced him, he was summoned to the station, interrogated, and subsequently handed over to the Berhampur team. After the murder, the co‑accused Bisoi and shooter Bhuyan spent four days hiding at Hota’s farmhouse in Jeypore.
Hota will be produced before a court today.
Yesterday, 12 persons were arrested in connection with the case. All the accused are being held in separate wards of the Berhampur Central Jail.
The arrest brings the total number of accused arrested in connection with the killing of Pitabash Panda to 13.
