The Marathon halts!

Biranchi Das` death has surely come as a shock for the sporting fraternity of Orissa. Notwithstanding the manner in which he was killed, Das is going to be remembered for his outspoken and daredevil way of doing things in life.

D N Singh

Biranchi Das`s death has surely come as a shock for the sporting fraternity of Orissa. Notwithstanding the manner in which he was killed, Das is going to be remembered for his outspoken and daredevil way of doing things in life. That is where comes the name of the child prodigy Budhia Singh for whom it was no less than a phoenix rise in life and the credit should always go to Das. At the same time it was Budhia who played the role of an image maker for Das in return. No denying. Nobody in fact had expected that Das would fall to an assailant`s bullets. Nor it might have occurred to Das himself. The plot against Das was hatched a few days back and a known gangster called Raja Acharya emerges to be the principal culprit going by the version of eyewitness, none other than the younger brother of the deceased. However, now a chapter is over, virtually, but that does not stop all at that. Undisputedly, Biranchi has left behind a legacy in the field of sports that would surely go on. For which, he had weathered odds from within and outside. But he had his ways to tide over them. It had never been so easy for anybody to win a race. But child prodigy Budhia Singh`s former coach did demonstrate that with an incorrigible show of determination braving the odds those might have shattered the gumption of many ! He made a hero out of a slum urchin who was wriggling in the pangs of poverty. Glory came both ways and both Budhia Singh and Biranchi basked in that for quite sometime before they had an estranged relationship. But that was half of the story. Now the flip side. It had remained in the debate for quite sometime that whether Biranchi was a mentor or an exploiter of the wonder marathon runner Budhia. And now after his sad demise also the stigma does not give up. However, what has now come up as the biggest poser for many that why Biranchi was shot down by an assailant. Stories make round in many forms. Some say Das fell victim to the ire of a local don called Sandeep Acharya alias Raja just because Das was trying to topple the love cart of Acharya with a local video album actor, Leslie Tripathi. Also there are apprehensions that the cause behind Das` murder could be iron scrap-deal trading haggle in which the don had a stake. Toying with such theories the police somehow keeps the media at bay. Does that mean Das had a mask of sport on his face to hide anykind of such linkage? If he had any links with Raja, either due to the video album girl or scrap deal the police must have smelt it as the latter had been on the trail of Raja for last few years. Now that somebody comes and shoots point blank at Das and walks off without a trail slapping hard on the face of the police. The police so far has not been able to achieve anything except arresting the don`s younger brother and a nephew, who were already wanted in half a dozen other cases. Who is the main suspect? If it is Raja Acharya or anyone else, who could ignore two nearby police outposts to reach Das`s Judo Centre and open fire at Biranchi Das before sundown. Strangely though now the top cops of Bhubneswar are hard pressed to suspect the involvement of their own personnel in the shoot out episode !