Berhampur: Chennai police with the help of local police have arrested one Harihara Pattjoshi, a murder accused who had been in hiding for the last 28 years.
Accused Pattjoshi was hiding in a location under Gosaninuagaon police limits was apprehended near the railway station while he was trying to escape.
According to the police, Pattjoshi (23) from Berhampur who was married to one Indira (21) from Chennai on August 9 in 1995 murdered his mother-in-law, Rama (48) at their Nangnallur residence in Chennai. He had also attacked his wife and brother in law , Karthik (24) with the same knife used for murder and both of them were grievously injured.
A murder case was registered at S:8 Adambakkam police station on August 9 in 1995 in this connection. However, immediately after the murder accused Pattjoshi escaped from Chennai and absconded.
The accused was working at a printing press in a advertisement company in Chennai and his wife Indira was working as a telemarketing executive in another company in Chennai. They met due to work related assignment and fell in love and got married on July 14, 1994.
But few months after marriage, the couple seperated due to domestic violence and Indira filed for divorce in a local court.This enraged accused Pattjoshi and on the day of murder he attacked his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. While his mother-in-law died on August 9 in 1995 his wife and brother- in-law were severely injured.
Police said since 1995, the accused was hiding in various locations throughout Odisha and also in Surat. Initially he was hiding in a friend’s house in Aska where he met another woman and married her in 2001. He worked in a masala factory in Berhampur, later as a sales man in a Bajaj insurance company in Kendrapara, and later as a manager in chit fund company in Berhampur. He had shifted many houses.
Multiple police teams have camped and conducted raid at Berhampur and nearby places over the last 28 years but he could not be arrested.
Around one week back a four member police team from Chennai, Adambakkam police station under Sub Inspector Kannan along with HC Balamurugan, PC Edwin Deepak, PC Manivannan reached Gosaninuagaon police station of Berhampur police district.
A team was formed under Gosaninuagaon IIC Smruti comprising of Sub Inspector Gyana Ranjan Behera, C/287 P K Panda, C/797 Jyoti K Devi, OAPF Phenyl Sabar, OAPF K Madhab, OAPFA Sabar, HG Santhosh K Padhi, Const K P Samanta, OAPF S Bhuyan, and HG MM Gouda.
The police team worked in close coordination and kept a watch on all suspeced locations. After a gruelling week, the police team was able to find the accused person hiding in a location under Gosaninuagaon police station area. He was apprehended while he was trying to escape again near the railway station.
The accused got married in 2001 and he has a daughter from him second wedding. Accused’s wife was running a cloth store near Andaparasa Chhak.
