Birendra Lakra accused of involvement in murder
New Delhi, June 28
Birendra Lakra, a member of India’s bronze-winning hockey team at last year’s Olympic Games, has been accused of involvement in the murder of a childhood friend, Anand Toppo, by the father of the deceased. Anand was found dead in an apartment in Bhubaneswar in February this year and his father, Bandhan Toppo, has accused the state police of shielding the hockey player since he is serving as a DSP.
Bandhan said he has been struggling to file an FIR for the last four months but the state police did not help him, forcing him to go public with his accusations.
“We and Birendra were next door neighbours, so naturally Anand was his childhood friend. On February 28, we got a call from Birendra that Anand is unconscious and he is taking him to the hospital. Later he informed us that Anand is no more,” Bandhan told PTI.
“We asked him what had happened but he just told us to come to Bhubaneswar. We reached there next day and we were taken to the local police station where the officer told us Anand had committed suicide. But there was no suicide note,” he added. “We were shown Anand body’s after much insistence and on the first look I saw hand marks on his neck. But the post mortem report said it was suicide.”
Anand was reportedly found dead in flat No. 401 of Ayush Radium in Infocity, Patia, which allegedly belongs to Lakra. While reports claimed that only Lakra and a girl were present in the flat at the time, the victim’s father begged to differ.
