(Top) Chitta Ranjan Dash with the murder weapon. (Below) Big Bazar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 15: A 32-year-old man was stabbed to death in full public view at the busy Big Bazar area at 11.30am today following a dispute over the sharing of collections made from a parking lot.

Kharavela Nagar police arrested the accused and seized the dagger used in the crime. The deceased was identified as Santu Ghose, who lived at Timber Colony in Satya Nagar. Though the police reached the spot immediately and rushed Santu to Capital Hospital, he was declared brought dead.

Santu’s brother Pintu Ghose, who rushed to the hospital on hearing about the murder, said: “I was in my shop when a cousin of mine informed me that my brother had been stabbed.”

Santu was managing a parking lot in front of Big Bazar, a shopping mall, for the last four months. “There have been quarrels between him and others in the past but I did not know that things would go this far,” said Pintu.

Eyewitnesses said the accused, Chitta Ranjan Das alias Tunu, stabbed Santu following an altercation over the sharing of proceeds from the parking lot, which he was managing along with Santu.

“They were almost always fighting. Today they quarrelled again following which Das stabbed Santu with a dagger,” said Rattan Nayak, a trader.

Sources said the accused had surrendered before the Kharvela police but the latter claimed to have arrested him.

“We have arrested the accused and registered a case against him. He was booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code and was forwarded to the court,” said Himanshu Lal, deputy commissioner of police (DCP).

Police said the accused made a living by guarding vehicles near the shopping mall.

“The deceased used to harass the accused over the share of money collected from the parking lot. Today, both were intoxicated and fought over the issue following which the accused killed Santu,” said a police officer.

Tension gripped Capital Hospital where security guards manhandled some journalists covering the incident. The inspector-in-charge of Capital police station had to rush to the hospital following the fracas.

Later, the deputy commissioner of police came to the hospital and pacified journalists, who were getting ready to stage a protest there.

Traders near Big Bazar said that illegal parking lots had mushroomed in the area and were creating problems. “Since the authorities do not provide sufficient parking space, anti-socials take advantage of the situation and collect money illegally from people,” said Sanatan Mallik, a trader.