Lensman Row: Crime Branch Takes Sarmistha Rout, 3 Others on Remand

Bhubaneswar (Reporters Today Bureau): The Crime Branch, which is probing into the cameraman Manas Swain murder case, today took prime accused Sarmistha Rout and three others on remand for further questioning. The agency took Sarmistha, retired OIS officer Niranjan Sethi, Jhuna Bhoi and Ranjan Nayak on remand for five days. During the remand period, the Crime Branch is likely to grill the four over their alleged involvement in the abduction and murder of Manas in order to ascertain the exact motive behind the killing.

Sarmistha and her associate Jhuna were arrested by a joint team of Bhadrak Police and Crime Branch on March 28 from Nalanga area of Bhadrak district. The two were then produced before the Court of JMFC, Chandbali. A sensational twist came to the case when police on March 21 arrested former Information & Public Relation (I&PR) Director (Technical) Niranjan Sethi over his alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of Manas. He was an Odisha Information Service (OIS) officer and retired in February.

Police have so far arrested eight persons– Sarmistha Rout, her associate Jhuna Bhoi, Niranjan Sethi, his associate Ranjan Nayak, Bhagyadhar Nayak, Vivek Nayak, Krushna Chandra Nayak and Sarmistha’s brother Parameswar Rout– in this case.