Two arrested for murders of Congress activist, journalist in Odisha

Five days after a Congress activist and a journalist were murdered in Odisha's Cuttack district, police on Thursday claimed to have solved the case by arresting two persons in this connection. Forty-year-old Bhagaban Swain, Congress activist and husband of a sarpanch, and 38-year-old journalist Aditya Ransingh were murdered last week in Banki area of the district.

Cuttack (Rural) Superintendent of Police R B Panigrahi said the murders were an outcome of previous rivalries. He said two persons have been arrested and two others detained in this connection.

"Investigations made so far have revealed that the deceased persons and the perpetrators of the crime were always at loggerheads and there were reports of previous assaults and counter assaults between them," the officer said. A Congress delegation, on the other hand, met the state DGP at the police headquarters here during the day and demanded a crime branch inquiry into the killings. Describing the killings as "political murders", they indicated that ruling BJD was behind the incident.