Bhubaneswar: The prime suspect in the case of a ghastly murder of a youth in Bhubaneswar last month surrendered before the police at Mancheswar police station here on Sunday. The police subsequently arrested the accused Rama Naik of Kedarpalli slum under Capital police station limits. “Based on some significant evidence fetched during the investigation, we realised she (Rama) was also involved in the case and she must be arrested. As there is a conspiracy angle to the murder case, we will file the charge sheet after a careful and meticulous investigation in the case,” said Pinak Mishra, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Bhubaneswar.

DCP Mishra told mediapersons that the city police had started the process to issue NBW against Rama and attach her movable and immovable assets. He further said the family members of the victim, Sahadev, have mentioned Rama as the key conspirator in the FIR lodged in the case.

The DCP said the family members had earlier approached the police seeking her arrest. Mishra noted that police during the course of the investigation also found that a conspiracy was hatched to murder Sahadev. The DCP said seven persons, including Rama, have so far been arrested in the case. He revealed involvement of more persons in the conspiracy to kill Sahadev.

It is pertinent here to mention that bike-borne miscreants hacked Sahadev Nayak to death near the busy Rasulgarh Square area under Mancheswar police limits in Bhubaneswar on January 8. Sahadev, who belonged to Kedarpalli slum under the Capital police station area of the city, was returning home after dropping his minor daughter at her school in VSS Nagar area in the morning when the miscreants assaulted him with sharp weapons. The police later initiated an investigation into the case, registering a case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the deceased’s wife. She alleged that some residents of the slum, who are involved in selling brown sugar, killed her husband for protesting against the illegal trade of drugs in the locality.