Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack has arrested a man for the murder of his 30-year-old girlfriend, whose decomposed body was found along the banks of the Daya River under Dhauli Police limits on January 28. The case, which initially began as a missing person’s report, has since unfolded into a complex tale of betrayal, suspicion, and calculated deception.
Police Commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh identified the accused as Chandan Parida alias Mangu, a resident of Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district. Parida had been working as a security guard at a private agency in the Laxmisagar area of Bhubaneswar.
During a press briefing, Singh stated that a case of unnatural death was initially registered by Dhauli Police, but post-mortem findings confirmed that the victim, Sneha Behera, had been strangled to death.
Sneha, a native of Kandhamal district, lived in Baramunda and was employed with a private firm in Bhubaneswar. She had been missing since January 10, and her sister filed a missing person’s complaint at Khandagiri Police Station on January 17.
“Through the investigation, police identified Sneha’s original phone number and traced multiple calls made to Parida. Based on technical surveillance, it was found that both Sneha and Parida were last located near the Daya River on January 10 — after which both became unreachable,” said the Police Commissioner.
Further investigation confirmed that Parida and Sneha were in a relationship. Allegedly driven by suspicion that Sneha was involved with another man, Parida lured her to the riverbank and strangled her with a stole following a heated argument. He then fled the city, abandoned his job, and discarded his phone to avoid detection.
In a dramatic twist, another man — Mitu Parida from Chandanpur in Puri district — was arrested for attempting to frame his lover’s husband in Sneha’s murder. After learning about the discovery of Sneha’s body through social media, Mitu planted the Aadhaar card of Ramesh Sahu (of Jajpur) and a fake suicide note at the crime scene to falsely implicate him. Mitu was having an affair with Sahu’s wife.
Police interrogated Sahu and unearthed the plot, leading to Mitu’s arrest on February 6 by the Dhauli Police.
