Nayagarh: Police have cracked the murder case of a 28-year-old cameraman, Manas Swain whose body was recovered from under the ground at Ranpur on Saturday. Swain worked as a cameraman with a web portal based in Bhubaneswar, and also took up freelancing jobs.
The police have arrested two contract killers in this case who had murdered Swain and buried his body in a barren land on the outskirts of Badhipatna village in Narendrapur panchayat under Ranpur police limits.
According to reports, the owner of the web portal where Swain worked orchestrated his murder. Swain, a native of Godi Pokhari village in Ranpur was missing since February 5. On the basis of his family’s complaint, the police launched a search. Swain had gone for a wedding shoot to Chandbali, his relatives informed the police.
Further probe revealed that he was kidnapped from Chandbali by the contract killers engaged by his Bhubaneswar-based employer and the murder was executed in the Capital City. The accused-trio decided to dump the body of Swain in his native place, to evade police suspicion.
“They wanted it to look like murder because of a fallout with his village locals. Therefore, the body of the deceased was buried in Badhipatna,” a police official said.
Joint efforts by Chandbali police and Ranpur police led to the arrest of the accused. The police carried out raids at a location in Airfield area of Bhubaneswar to nab the woman involved in this case, however, she remains elusive, said sources.
On the other hand, a team of Chandbali police had taken two accused to the spot where they had buried the victim to recreate the crime scene.
While the police are tight-lipped about the motive behind the crime, sources said, the woman was suspecting that Swain had some objectionable video clips which involved her. There were arguments between the youth and his employer over this matter in the past. Apprehending humiliation, the woman decided to eliminate Swain, reports stated.
