Bhubaneswar, April 13: A 23-year-old woman was shot at in the Mancheswar industrial area, creating panic among local residents.

The victim has been identified as Namita Rani Padhi, who works in the customer care department of a telephone company. The customer care cell is managed by a different company. The incident occurred when she was returning to her office after lunch. She has been admitted to a private city hospital is said to be out of danger.

Police sources suspected that someone known to the girl was behind the incident. “The goons certainly did not want to kill her. They had aimed the pistol at her leg.”

Eyewitnesses said two youths were seen waiting under a banyan tree, around 50 feet away from her office. When she was heading to her office around 3pm, one of the youths fished out a pistol and fired two rounds at her. Both the bullets hit her left leg and the two immediately fled on a motorcycle.

Sukumar Sahu, a security guard deployed at a nearby industrial establishment, said he was inside his office complex, when he heard the sound of firing and rushed out. “I saw the woman lying on the road and bleeding profusely. Then I saw the two youths fleeing the spot on a motorcycle,” said Sahu. Soon a crowd formed and they informed the police.

On receiving the information, the Mancheswar police rushed to the spot and seized two used bullets. The police admitted the girl to a private hospital in Pandora. The victim is yet to regain consciousness and she is in the intensive care unit of the hospital. Police said Namita belonged to Cuttack.

However, neither the girl’s family members, nor her colleagues said anything to the media.

Senior police officials, including deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh, have visited the spot. The police hope to record her statement, which may provide clues about the identity of the goons once she regains consciousness. “The girl may be knowing them,” said a senior officer.

Murder arrests

Three persons including a woman were arrested by the railway police for the murder of a 34-year-old builder, whose mutilated body was found on the railway tracks near Sarakantara in the city outskirts on March 10.

An illicit affair between the deceased and the accused woman is said to be the motive behind the crime. However, the police are trying to ascertain the exact cause that provoked the murder.

The police had initially registered a case of unnatural death, but circumstantial evidence later forced them to convert it to a case of murder.

“The post-mortem report suggested that the victim, Dillip Pattnaik, was beaten on the head and strangulated before his body was dumped on the railway tracks,” said Smrutiranjan Kar, the inspector in charge of GRP, Bhubaneswar.

The three arrested persons include 30-year-old Sakina Begum, who worked as a domestic help in the house of the deceased’s in-laws. The other two are Seikh Petla and Sakhwat Khan of Dumuduma, where Patnaik’s in-laws reside. The police was looking for another accomplice, Seikh Ansara.

Kar said they got hold of the culprits through the victim’s mobile phone. Many calls were made by Sakina to the deceased on the day of his death. The police suspect that there an illicit relationship was on between Sakina and the deceased.

On March 9, the day of Holi, after Pattnaik left his daughter and wife at his in law’s house, Sakina called him back to his place where she, along with three others, allegedly killed him. Then, the three took the body in Ansara’s car to the railway tracks and tried to make it look like suicide.

“Sakina told us that Pattnaik had illicit affairs with many girls of the area. He used to take nude photographs and also film intimate moments with the girls. When she got to know about this, she had told the other accused persons and they all decided to get rid of him,” Kar said

During interrogation, the woman claimed that they had destroyed the laptop in which Dillip Patnaik had stored the nude photographs and videos. Kar said the laptop had not been seized. Patnaik’s wife, his in-laws and family members have denied his illicit relationship with the domestic help and charges made by her.

Kar said they were trying to recover the lost laptop and once it was available, things would get clear. Pattnaik’s family members suspect rivalry over land deals had led to the murder.

“We are investigating the matter,” said Kar.

The Airfield police are also investigating into the theft case lodged by Pattnaik’s in-laws on the same day because they found some gold ornaments and cash missing from the house.