Days after a cameraman was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, the Bhadrak district police are on the lookout for one Sarmistha Rout, the owner and editor of a Bhubaneswar-based web portal. The victim, Manas Swain (28), worked for Rout’s portal before taking up freelance work three months ago.
According to the police, on February 7, Swain was kidnapped from a wedding venue in Bhadrak where he was hired as a photographer. When he did not return home even after a week and his phone remained out of reach, his family lodged a missing persons report on February 15.
🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️
“During investigation, we first narrowed down on the driver who was booked by Swain for his journey to Bhadrak. Eventually, we nabbed two others who were also involved in the crime and were known to the driver. All of them confessed to have first kidnapped him and later killed him,” a senior police official from Bhadrak said.
The accused were identified as Bhagyadhar Nayak (26), Bebek Nayak (19) and Krushna Chandra Nayak (50). All the accused were arrested on March 12.
According to the police, the accused first brought Swain to Bhubaneswar where they kept him in hiding at an old age home, also run by Rout, and later killed him and buried his body in Ranpur area of Odisha’s Nayagarh district. On March 13, Swain’s body was exhumed from the spot, based on the statement of the accused.
The accused also confessed to have killed Swain at the behest of Rout.
“As per our preliminary investigation, Swain was in possession of some controversial videos and photos related to Rout which she wanted him to hand over to her. She needed the CPU chip which is why she hatched the plan. The chip is now in her possession and we are not sure about the exact content or details of the videos and photos,” Additional Superintendent of Police, Bhadrak, Jatin Panda said. The police are also on the lookout for three other accused who had helped Rout to hide the victim at her ashram and later kill him.
