Odisha: SIT grills prime suspect of Nayagarh minor girl murder case

BHUBANESWAR: Amid the political slugfest over the brutal murder of a five-year-old girl in Nayagarh district, Special Investigation Team (SIT) interrogated prime suspect Babuli Nayak, accused of committing the crime.

The SIT team led by its chief and senior IPS officer Arun Bothra questioned Nayak and his son for about an hour on Friday.

"The team conducted searches at Nayak's three-story house in Jadupur village on Friday. Bothra was present when the officers inspected all the rooms of the building. They collected the details of the vehicles owned by Nayak and his drivers," said sources.

The officers also visited the house of one of the drivers of Nayak, Bijay Behera, in the Itamati area on Friday following which he was whisked away to the Circuit House for interrogation by Bothra and other officers.

Behera was then questioned by a team of officers at Nayagarh Town police station for about two hours. "We need at least two weeks time to crack the case as vigorous investigation is continuing," said a senior police officer.

SIT was formed under the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on November 27. Bothra and about 10 Crime Branch officers are stationed at Nayagarh for the last four days to carry out the investigation thoroughly.

They have collected the post-mortem and forensics reports along with other documents for further investigation.

The victim's father Ashok Sahoo has claimed that his daughter's eyes were gouged out and kidneys were removed after killing her brutally. He has also alleged that Nayak has close links with minister Arun Sahoo.

Meanwhile, BJP and Congress leaders visited Nayagarh on Saturday to meet Sahoo and his wife Saudamini.

"The brutal act should be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The victim's parents will not get justice until Arun Sahoo is suspended," BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra told the mediapersons.

A delegation of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee led by its in-charge A Chellakumar and party's State unit chief Niranjan Patnaik also visited Nayagarh to meet the victim's parents.

The victim’s father had lodged a complaint after the girl went missing on July 14. A case was registered on the same day. With the help of VHF waves and sniffer dogs, the skeletal remains of the victim packed in a bag were traced to the backyard of her house on July 23.