Odisha cops grill Rakesh Swain on Jharaphula Nayak's alleged murder

JAJPUR: Jajpur Police on Tuesday subjected Rakesh Swain, prime accused in Jharaphula Nayak’s alleged murder, to intense grilling to elicit more details of the sensational case. The interrogation started at 8.00 am and continued till 12.00 pm in a room inside Kuakhia police station.

Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Jajpur Road Chinmaya Kumar Nayak conducted the interrogation. 

The accused was questioned in presence of Jharaphula’s father Ramakant Nayak about his relationship with the girl. At around 1 pm, Rakesh was taken to the place near Mulapala Chowk where he had dumped the girl’s body with help of his friend Sekhar. He recreated the sequence of events, police said.

It is likely that police will take the accused to the hotel in Bhubaneswar where he and Jharaphula had stayed for crime scene reconstruction.

Earlier on the day, a team of police led by Kuakhia IIC Manoj Kumar Swain brought Rakesh from Jajpur sub jail on remand for three days. The accused’s health check-up was conducted at the district headquarters hospital. Sources said health officials have handed over the postmortem report of Jharaphula to police.

However, police are tight-lipped about the findings. Besides, Rakesh’s aide Sekhar is yet to be arrested.

Rakesh and Jharaphula, a student of Rama Devi Women’s University, had checked into Shiv Sai Guesthouse at Dharma Vihar in Bhubaneswar on January 26. They stayed in room no 201 of the hotel.

The next day, Rakesh reportedly found Jharaphula in an unconscious state in the hotel room. He called Sekhar and both of them left the hotel with the unconscious girl on a scooter at around 7 am.

Rakesh initially intended to hospitalise Jharaphula at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack but realised midway that the girl had died.

The duo allegedly went all the way to Jajpur on the two-wheeler and dumped the body at a roadside near Mulapala Chowk in Kuakhia.