Berhampur, May 6: Two youths were shot dead by their co-passengers inside an autorickshaw near Lanjipalli bypass road adjoining the National Highway No. 16 in the BNPur police station jurisdiction today.
After killing the duo, the three killers got down from the autorickshaw and snatched away a bike from a passer by at gunpoint and fled from the spot. The deceased are in their thirties.
“Five persons hired the autorickshaw from Chatrapur Railway Station in the morning. They were to go to Kamapalli in Berhampur. All the five persons were speaking in Hindi,” police said.
The police seized the two bodies lying in the auto and sent them for post-mortem to MKCG hospital.
“We have identified one of the victims as Lalu Kumar, son of Solo Prasad Yadav, from his driving licence, which was found in his pocket. He had suffered bullet injury to his head. We have found a wallet in his pocket containing cash worth Rs 6,962. Besides, two live bullets were also found in the wallet. However, the identity of the other victim, who suffered bullet injury in his chest, is yet to be ascertained,” the police said.
The police said the killers snatched away the Hero Honda bike of one Naresh Patra of Lanjipalli Brahmin Sahi to escape from the spot.
“The three killers escaped from the spot after threatening Naresh with a pistol,” said deputy inspector general of police Amitav Thakur.
The police are interrogating the auto driver, B. Mohan Rao of Chhatrapur, and Patra. “We have found some clues about the motive behind the murder. The bike, on which the three killers had escaped, is yet to be found, but we have alerted the police force to keep a strict vigil,” said Thakur. Besides, Berhampur police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi and other police officers rushed to the spot immediately to supervise the investigation. Scientific team also reached the spot with sniffer dog.