Bhubaneswar: Police on Thursday arrested two more persons in connection with the brutal assault on a young couple in Berhampur city earlier this week, taking the total number of arrests in the case to four.
The newly arrested accused have been identified as Ashish Sahu and Dinesh Kumar Panda, police said.
Earlier, the police had arrested two other accused — Lingaraj Samal and Raj Malhotra — in connection with the incident that took place in the Giri Road area of Berhampur on May 18.
Meanwhile, prime accused Mukesh Sahu sustained injuries in a police encounter in Berhampur in the wee hours of Thursday, officials said.
“Ashish is the brother of prime accused Mukesh Sahu. He was arrested after he surrendered before the Town police today. All four arrested persons have been produced before a local court,” a police officer said.
According to police, a group of miscreants allegedly waylaid Umesh Rath and his female friend Gayatri Patra while they were travelling on a motorcycle near Giri Road at around 8.30 pm on May 18.
The attackers allegedly assaulted the couple with sticks in full public view. A video of the incident later surfaced on social media and went viral, triggering widespread outrage.
Umesh sustained grievous injuries in the attack and was initially admitted to a nearby hospital. He was later shifted to a private hospital in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh for advanced treatment.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the assault was linked to past enmity, police added.
