B’swar hotel firing: Main accused held from Chhattisgarh

Police on Sunday cracked the case of firing at a newly-opened hotel at the OT Road here on July 8 and nabbed the main accused from neighbouring Chhattisgarh State.

The accused identified as Jajan Panigrahi was arrested after a series of raids on his suspected hideouts by police after the incident, which had sent shockwaves in the town.

“A group of unidentified men came on a bike and started firing at the hotel indiscriminately around 8 pm. But fortunately nobody was injured in the firing.  However, some of the glass partitions in the front portion of hotel were struck with the bullets and got damaged,” said Hotel Zaika International manager Sudarshan Pradhan.

He also claimed that, an unidentified person called him up at around 11 am on the day of the incident and demanded protection money for the new hotel, which he said he took lightly.  Meanwhile, police are on the lookout for others involved in the incident.