Four held for murder of NINL contract worker

Jajpur: Four contract workers of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) steel plant in Jajpur district were arrested on Sunday in connection with the murder of Silu Pradhan, a contractual worker of the plant. Those arrested have been identified as Tarini Prasad Mohanty, Jagdish Mohanta, Padmalocan Mohanta and Alok Patra. The accused are employed in NINL plant on contractual basis and are co-workers of the deceased.

Police said sharing of booty from an illegal oil transaction that has been going on in the private steel plant where the deceased and the accused were employed is the reason behind the murder.

“It was all well earlier as the booty was distributed among them mutually. The problem arose when the deceased (Silu), who was absent from the plant for nearly three weeks and joined duty on October 30, demanded his share of booty from oil pilferage. The tussle arose among them over the issue leading to killing of Silu by his fellow workers,” said Prakash Chandra Sahoo, IIC of Kalinga Nagar.

Police said after killing Silu, they buried his body by digging a pit near the batching unit of the NINL plant on the same night. “When we retrieved the body, we found the legs and hands of the deceased were tied with a rope and the body was naked,” he said.

The accused were arrested under relevant sections of BNS. They were forwarded to the local court and later remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected, police said.

It may be noted that the decomposed body of Silu Pradhan, who was working as a machine helper in the batching unit of the plant, was retrieved by Kalinga Nagar police from the premises of NINL plant late on Friday.

The 22-year-old Silu, a resident of Kulunigoda village within Gondia police limits of Dhenkanal district, was missing from the plant for the last four days. The incident came to light when the villagers, led by family members of Silu, blocked the main gate of the NINL plant seeking his physical appearance following which the police started a probe into the matter.

Police, during search of the plant, retrieved Silu’s decomposed body from under the batching unit of the NINL in the presence of local magistrate, company officials and his family members.