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Crime Branch picks up scrap dealer

BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch has launched raids on godowns in and around Mancheswar Industrial Estate to gather clues about railway scrap smuggling, one of the angles in the investigation into the sensational murder of Biranchi Das, former coach of child marathoner Budhia Singh.

Police on Wednesday arrested scrap dealer Maman Kumar Agarwal of Brajabasi Iron and Steel Godown located in Chakeisiani. He is being interrogated. Sensing trouble, Maman’s father Brijlal Agarwal, a prominent scrap dealer, and two drivers had absconded, police sources said. The raids started on Tuesday and continued till midnight. The sleuths also resumed random raids on different godowns in Mancheswar Industrial Estate. During the raid, the Crime Branch personnel were mainly verifying licence papers and different financial dealings in the scrap business.

“We are continuing the raids and hopeful of getting some vital clues on scrap dealings. The godown owned by Brijlal, who is expected to be apprehended soon, is spread over one acre. Brijlal is operating in Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal,” Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch-II) Santosh Kumar Biswal said here.

Meanwhile, a group of police personnel from Mancheswar and Airfield Police Stations, who had gone to Biju Patnaik Airport apprehending that a prominent scrap dealer would land, returned empty-handed.

Railway scrap deal is another strong angle in the Biranchi Das murder case. The slain coach was believed to have been privy to a number of scrap dealings. It was suspected that when Das wanted to blow the whistle he was reportedly murdered by hired killers.

Putting the investigation process on the fast track, the Police Commissionerate too laid traps for associates of gangster Raja Acharya, the prime suspect in the murder, at different localities in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. On Tuesday, the police had arrested one Tukuna Sahoo from Cuttack.

Meanwhile, the four-member police team, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Suresh Mohapatra, reached Bhopal to bring back Chagala, one of the suspects in the murder case. Chagala, a close associate of Acharya, had admitted that he was part of the conspiracy to kill Das. In another development, senior IAS officer Priyabrata Patnaik, whose name was taken by Chagala, said the charges of his involvement was baseless.

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