Raipur:
Raigarh police have solved the murder of an unidentified man near the Transport Nagar bus stand within 24 hours of the discovery of his body, detaining one adult and four juveniles in conflict with law.
Police identified the adult accused as 19-year-old Rajeshwar Sarthi alias Samaru. Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused attempted to rob money and a mobile phone from the victim, who was sleeping near a parked truck. The man woke up and resisted the robbery, prompting one of the juveniles to attack him multiple times with a button knife, causing his death. Officers recovered blood-stained clothes, the motorcycle used in the getaway, and the weapon from the possession of the accused.
The incident came to light on the morning of 24 October 2026, when the Jute Mill police station received information regarding an unidentified male body lying near the Transport Nagar bus stand. Senior police officials, local station personnel, and a forensic science laboratory team rushed to the scene to inspect the area. The victim, estimated to be between 35 and 40 years of age, bore injury marks on his chest, shoulder, and other parts of his body. Police registered a marg case and shifted the body to the mortuary as efforts to identify the deceased proved unsuccessful initially.
The station house officer obtained a preliminary post-mortem report from a team of doctors, which confirmed that the death was homicidal in nature. Police registered an offence under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against unidentified persons at the Jute Mill police station and launched a formal investigation.
Senior Superintendent of Police Sashi Mohan Singh directed Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Singh to visit the spot and supervise the investigation. A police team led by Jute Mill station house officer Abhinav Kant Singh intensified the search for the suspects by scanning CCTV footage from the vicinity to trace the timeline and identify suspicious individuals. Intelligence inputs indicated that teenagers aged 15 to 16 years were spotted near the scene around the time of the crime. Officer Abhinav Kant deployed informants based on the physical descriptions of the suspects, leading police to conduct raids in the Midthumuda, Bajrangpara, and Sangitrai areas.
Interrogation revealed that the group consumed intoxicants and targeted elderly individuals, scrap collectors, and late-night travellers arriving near railway stations and bus stands to steal mobile phones and cash for their daily expenses.
The accused stated that two boys reached the Transport Nagar bus stand on an HF Deluxe motorcycle bearing registration number CG 04 M 3674 around 1 am on 23 October 2026, followed by three others. They noticed a man sleeping in an inebriated state near a truck parked beside a fruit shop. The suspects began searching his pockets for cash and phones, but the victim woke up and offered resistance.
One of the juvenile suspects then pulled out a button knife and inflicted multiple stab wounds on the victim’s arms, chest, thighs, and back. The group allegedly stole ₹700 from the victim’s pocket and distributed the cash among themselves. Police subsequently added Section 111 of the BNS, pertaining to organised crime, to the case file based on the accused’s statements.
Jute Mill police seized the blood-stained garments, motorcycle, and button knife based on the disclosure statements of the suspects. Authorities are completing the legal formalities to produce the accused before a court for remand.
