Kunmun Suar, Tutu Mahapatra, Hari Panda and Jagan Khatei was taken into custody were nabbed from Koraput while trying to escape to a neighbouring State, informed Puri SP Kanwar Vishal Singh.
While, the first three were present during the murder of the senior servitor, Jagan had prepared their escape plan, the SP said.
A total of 11 police teams had been pressed into action to trace the absconding accused. It was very difficult to locate them as they refrained from using mobile phones, he added.
After committing the crime the accused had fled to Satapada forest. After spending two days there they relocated to Chilika and holed up there inside a boat for two more days.
Though police teams approached them subsequently, the accused managed to give them a slip and shifted to Koraput. They were about to escape to a neighbouring State when got nabbed.
Worth mentioning, a total of 6 persons had been taken into custody earlier in Krushna Chandra Pratihari murder case which includes the father-son duo Kalia Singhari and Dolagobinda Singhari. The other four were Kalu Panigrahi, Baba Mohapatra, Muna Patra and Sandeep Jena.
Pratihari was shot dead near Barabati area in Puri on March 16. Kalia and Dolagobinda had paid Rs 2 lakh to Kalu to gather manpower for the murder while Muna had supplied the pistol and Sandeep was in charge of arranging a hideout for the assailants. Baba was present at the crime spot.
The murder had been carried out to avenge the Guna Singhari murder of August 2012. Krushna Pratihari and five others were involved in the case.
