The charred body of a 38-year-old journalist missing since March 29 was found in a field in North Andaman district, police said on Wednesday.
The body of Shahdeb Dey, the owner of a local news channel known as ‘Republic Andaman’, was found in a field from Deshbandu Nagar in Diglipur on Tuesday, police said.
Superintendent of Police, North and Middle Andaman district, Shweta K Sugathan said, “It is a murder case and we have picked up four people including a woman. The exact motive behind the murder is under investigation but preliminary probe revealed that it happened over personal enmity involving the woman.” The SP said those arrested were identified as Gangaiyya (who runs a bar cum restaurant in Diglipur), his two staff members Rama Subramanian and Ramesh and a local woman Bitika Mallik.
“Our probe is not yet over as we are trying to get more details on the exact motive behind the murder,” she said.
The SP said, “During interrogation of the arrested persons it came to know that on March 29, around 8 pm, Bitika called Shahdeb to meet her at Nehru Yuva Kendra in Diglipur. Shahdeb went to the place where Gangaiyya’s employee Rama Subramanian (who was waiting along with Bitika for the victim) hit him with a blunt object and he collapsed on the floor. It was then they took the body to a secluded place at Deshbandhu Nagar where they disposed of the body by setting it on fire.” “The statements given by arrested persons are contradictory. We are cross-checking their statements and trying to find out whether they are misleading the police or not. Today, morning a team from the forensic science department from Port Blair arrived here in Diglipur and they have started their investigation. We will share more details after the forensic science report,” the SP said.
Shahdeb was vocal against alleged illegal soil cutting, timber smuggling, illegal hooch racket and gambling.
On March 29 at around 7.49 pm, Shahdeb was seen at Diglipur fish market and then around 8.11 pm, he called his wife claiming that he was in Madhupur and that it will take one hour for him to reach the local market.
“He normally returns home around 8.30 pm to 9 pm but on Saturday he didn’t return home. Around 8.11 pm he called his wife for the last time and since then there has been no news of him. His cell phone was switched off. We came to know that he was murdered,” Shahdeb’s relative Alok Barui said.
Investigation revealed that a few months ago Shahdeb was assaulted by some local goons after he went to the market to expose an illegal hooch racket in the area.
“He was running this news channel for the last three years. We want a thorough investigation into the matter,” a close friend of Shahdeb said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
