Bhubaneswar: International hockey player Birendra Lakra appeared before the Infocity police in connection to the Anand Toppo murder case here on Monday.
Lakra reportedly appeared before the Infocity police in the presence of the Additional Deputy Commissioners of Police (ADCP) Prakash Chandra Pal, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) and Investigating officer (IO) to face interrogation over the alleged murder case.
The Commissionerate Police has reportedly prepared a list of 25 people including Lakra in connection with the murder case, said sources. Everyone who was present at the spot of the crime and all those who know about the crime will be interrogated by the police, added the sources.
It is to be noted here that Lakra was the roommate of the deceased Anand Toppo. The postmortem report revealed hanging as the cause of his death.
The viscera report of Toppo has been sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory for further probe into the matter, informed ADCP.
Notably, Anand was found dead in a flat under Infocity Police Station limits in February this year. Lakra reportedly informed Anand’s father Bandhan Tappo about his death saying that the deceased died by suicide.
However, as Lakra was not present at the spot when Anand reached and found some cut marks on the neck of his son he suspected some foul play and leveled murder allegations against the hockey star.
Soon, Bandhan went to the Infocity police station to file a case of murder against Lakra. However, IIC Samita Mishra refused to receive his complaint.
Later, Bandhan moved to the Orissa High Court seeking justice for his deceased son. Taking a serious note of the case, the court recently reprimanded the Infocity police station IIC and directed the Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh to bar the cop from field posting.
This apart, the Court also asked the DCP to monitor the probe into the murder case.
Ms Kalinga