Hockey star Birendra Lakra has been accused of involvement within the homicide of his childhood good friend, Anand Toppo, by the daddy of the deceased.
Lakra's good friend was discovered useless inside his flat in Bhubaneswar in February this 12 months and the daddy of the deceased, Bandhan Toppo, has accused the State police of defending the hockey participant since he's serving as a DSP. Bandhan mentioned he has been struggling to file an FIR for the final 4 months however the State police didn't assist him, forcing him to go public along with his accusations.
Lakra, 32, was a part of India's bronze medal profitable crew on the Tokyo Video games and in addition led the nationwide aspect on the Asia Cup, the place the crew received a bronze medal.
“We and Birendra have been subsequent door neighbours, so naturally Anand was his childhood good friend. On February 28, we received a name from Birendra that Anand is unconscious and he's taking him to the hospital. Later he knowledgeable us that Anand is not any extra. We requested him what had occurred however he simply advised us to return to Bhubaneswar. We reached there subsequent day and we have been taken to the native police station the place the officer advised us Anand had dedicated suicide. However there was no suicide word. We have been proven Anand physique's after a lot insistence and on the primary look I noticed hand marks on his neck. However the submit mortem report mentioned it was a suicide,” Bandhan advised PTI.
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Anand was reportedly discovered useless in Flat No. 401 of Ayush Radium in Infocity, Patia, which belongs to Lakra, at round 10. Whereas experiences claimed that solely Lakra and a lady named Manjeet Tete have been current within the flat at the moment, the sufferer's father begged to vary. “There have been 4 individuals within the flat throughout my son's homicide. A 3rd individual was additionally there who's now being protected,” he mentioned.
‘Need impartial inquiry’
“I attempted to lodge an FIR on the native police station however they did not entertain me saying it's a suicide. Then after few days I went to the DCP workplace and filed an a grievance however after ready for 4 months for any motion, we lastly determined to go to the media,” the grieving father mentioned.
“I would like justice for my son. I don’t have belief in Odisha Police as they're making an attempt to avoid wasting Lakra as a result of he's a giant man. I would like an impartial inquiry into the mysterious demise of my son.”
In keeping with sources, the incident was a fallout of a love triangle despite the fact that each Lakra, who performs as a defender, and Anand have been married. “Anand died simply 12 days after he received married. He received married on February 16 and died on 28. He was completely happy along with his marriage,” Bandhan claimed.
Requested if Anand had any relationship with Manjeet, Bandhan didn't give a transparent reply. “I do not know something like that. However they have been finding out collectively in Bhubaneswar. If one thing occurred after that I don’t know. Anand by no means advised us something about her,” he mentioned.
Repeated calls to Lakra went unanswered.
It has been learnt that he's at present within the nationwide camp in Bengaluru coaching underneath former India captain Sardar Singh and he is perhaps requested to depart the nationwide camp within the wake of the controversy. In addition to the Olympic bronze, Lakra is a two-time Asian Video games medallist (gold in 2014 Incheon, bronze in 2018 Jakarta). He was additionally part of the silver-medal profitable Indian crew on the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Video games.
