Prime accused in Biranchi Das murder case arrested in Goa

Mon, May 5 08:24 PM

Panaji/Bhubaneswar, May 5 (PTI) The main accused in the the murder of Biranchi Das, coach of child marathon runner Budhia, was arrested today in Panaji in a joint operation by the police of Orissa and Goa, ending more than a month long search for him. However, the police force of the two states differed on the circumstances leading to the arrest of Raja Acharya today with Goa police claiming that he gave himself up while its Orissa counterpart insisted that he was held and there was no surrender .

"At 2.30 pm Acharya surrendered before Panaji Police Inspector Fransic Corte and he was arrested," Goa Inspector General of Police Kishan Kumar told reporters in Panaji.

"He surrendered and later we arrested him technically," Kumar said. Kumar said Orissa Police had informed them about Acharya's surrender plan and accordingly he walked in to the police station.

"He told the police he wanted to surrender." However, Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner Binoy Behera told reporters in Orissa capital that "Raja has not surrendered.

We have caught him with the help of Goa police with information from our own sources". Behera said he had spoken to the Goa Director General of Police after deputy commissioner of police Himanshu Lal and additional commissioner of police Sharat Sahu came to know about the gangster's whereabouts.

Acharya's arrest comes more than a month after Das was shot dead in Bhuwaneshwar by unidentified men on April 13. PTI.

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