The man suspected to have killed businessman Shanti Lal Baid in a city guesthouse last Monday is believed to be hiding in Bhubaneswar, police sources said.
Officers have come to the conclusion after analysing CCTV footage from Howrah station that the suspect had boarded the Howrah-Puri Express at 10.40pm on the night of February 14.
He got off at Cuttack station early next morning and stayed there for some time before heading for Bhubaneswar in a car, an officer said.
“Initially, we had found three suspicious looking men on platform 22.
But later we saw one of them — who was wearing a black jacket and carrying two bags — board the Puri-Howrah Express from the adjoining platform 23 at 10.40pm,” said the officer.
Sources said the suspect was seen in at least three footage from Cuttack station and the compound outside from where he boarded the car.
“The vehicle that took him to Bhubaneswar has been identified,” an officer said.
Police sources said the suspect was spotted in at least two locations in Bhubaneswar last week but by the time a team from the Kolkata police reached the Odisha capital, he had become untraceable.
A team of officers from the city has been camping in Odisha since.
An investigator said the accused was “moving frequently”, making it difficult to track him down.
“He is able to move so frequently because he has a lot of cash on him. We are confident of getting him very soon,” said an officer.
The crime branch of the Odisha police has published a photograph of the suspect, announcing a “suitable reward” for anyone who could provide correct information about him.
The Odisha police have identified the suspect as “Vimal Sharma alias Shivam Sagar alias Aarav Sharma alias Shivam,” from Delhi.
Kolkata police had found documents in the guesthouse on Sambhunath Pandit Street where Baid was found murdered that mentioned the suspect’s name as Vishnu Sharma, from Delhi.
A team of officers from Lalbazar that had left for Delhi on the night of the incident has been called back following reports of the suspect to be hiding in Bhubaneswar.
