Priest murder accused remanded in judicial custody

They were produced before the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM), Puri, Ajay Kumar Prodhan which rejected their bail plea and sent them to jail for 14 days.

Mohapatra, a priest of the Sri Jagannath temple and a councillor of local municipalty Ward No 1, was gunned by miscreants on August 22.

The five were identified as Sarbeswar Apat alias Dhoka and Debi Prasad Singhari alias Tilu, Bhagan Subhdhi, Bhima Subudhi and Chitta Ranjan Mohanty.

"Police will bring the five accused on remand for further interrogation within 15 days," superintendent of police Anup Kumar Sahu said.

Two pistols, some ammunition, three motor-cycles and six mobile phones were seized from them during their arrest from Puri and nearby Brahmagiri.

Attributing the incident to dispute relating to real estate business, Sahu said those who had executed the murder were arrested but the main conspirator in the crime was yet to be nabbed.

A manhunt is on to nab him, he said.

Besides being a member of the Temple Managing Committee, Mohapatra was also Secretary of Pushpalak Nijog, a leading priest association in the 12th century Puri temple.