Kendrapara: With the arrest of four sharp-shooters of a gang, police on Saturday claimed to have cracked the murder case of a criminal in Odisha's Kendrapara district last month.
Kedar Swain (32), a wanted criminal, had been gunned down allegedly by them near Shyamsundarpur traffic junction on the busy National highway No-5 (a) on January 24 noon, police said.
Incidentally the murder was executed with professional expertise hardly 100 metre from Kendrapara rural police station. The local police groped in dark for nearly a month before arresting them on Friday.
Sajan Behera, Prasant Das, Amit Pradhan and Harekrushna Behera were taken into custody on the charge of gunning down Swain, Sub Divisional Police Officer, Purna Chandra Pradhan, said.
All of them have past history of crimes and were wanted in a series of criminal cases. The assailants were booked under IPC sections 302, 34 and 25 and 27 Arms Act and they have confessed to the crime, he said.
After committing the cold-blooded in Kendrapara, they fled to Bhubaneswar. Later they had perpetrated another crime in Jharpada area of Bhubaneswar after launching a murderous attack on one Kuna Mangaraj. The criminal shifted their hideouts to different locations before being nabbed at seaside Bahakuda village under Mahakalpada police station jurisdiction, police said.
The arrested criminals had bitter gang rivalry and past enmity with Swain. It was an act of vendetta on their part, which led to the killing of Swain.
The deceased was an accused in a murder case under Marshaghai police station area. He was on the run and was evading arrest before falling prey to assassins bullets, they said.
