Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: Investigations into the road accident, which killed a student of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) on February 4, have taken a new twist after an eyewitness today claimed that police had arrested the wrong person.
The youth, who had chased the vehicle for nearly a kilometre after the accident, today said the person the cops had arrested on Tuesday was not driving the vehicle.
The police had booked Maheswar Behera, 40, of Badamba in Cuttack district on charges of rash and negligent driving. OUAT students had alleged that the vehicle belonged to a ruling party MLA.
The eyewitness today told newspersons: "I was on my motorcycle when the vehicle hit the two girls and sped away. I had chased it for around a kilometre. I remember the vehicle's registration number and had seen two youths of strong build inside," said the eyewitness.
Suchismita Biswal, an MCA student, was killed and another student Pragyan Tiwari was injured in the accident. Tiwari is undergoing treatment at a health care unit at present.
Preliminary investigation by the police had revealed that the vehicle was registered in the name of a construction company in Cuttack owned by the elder brother of a BJD legislator. The construction company owner later told the cops, after being summoned, that the vehicle was sold off to a former BJD MLA. However, he said the ownership registration papers were yet to change hands.
Deputy commissioner of police, Bhubaneswar, Satya-brata Bhoi said the youth, who has claimed to be the eyewitness, should share information with the police.
"He should go to the police station and help us in the investigation. The arrested driver has already confessed that he was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred. We are probing into the matter," said Bhoi.
The police said the driver had told them he had abandoned the vehicle near PMG Square. "The vehicle must have passed through several traffic intersections, which are under CCTV coverage. We will analyse the footage to find out the driver's identity," said a police officer.
