Bhubaneswar: In a significant breakthrough, the Commissionerate Police cracked a five-year-old murder case of a senior citizen couple by arresting Santosh Samad and his wife Basanti in Cuttack. The accused couple was involved in the murder of the elderly couple, Srinath Samal and his wife Bidulata, in their house in the Madhupatna police station area on December 12, 2019.
A press release by the Commissionerate Police stated that ACP Manoj Satpathy headed the investigation. It revealed that Santosh and Basanti planned and executed the murder, motivated by a sense of perceived injustice and anger towards the elderly couple. Basanti, who worked as a maid for the couple, had allegedly been misbehaved with by the couple on multiple occasions.
The police cracked the case after analyzing call data records, which showed a 40-hour gap in Basanti’s phone activity around the time of the murder. Further investigation, including an extra-judicial confession from Santosh, confirmed the couple’s involvement. Santosh and Basanti have been forwarded to court, with Santosh facing murder charges and Basanti accused of conspiracy to commit murder.
According to police, Santosh and Basanti, in a fit of rage against the couple who had repeatedly misbehaved with them, meticulously planned and executed a heinous crime. On December 11, 2019, the duo travelled from Sahajabahal, Sundargarh district, to Cuttack, with Basanti switching off her mobile phone en route.
The next night, Santosh entered the couple’s house, where he assaulted and killed Sh Srinath Samal and his wife, Smt Bidulata Samal. After the crime, Santosh searched for valuables, left the murder weapon behind, and disposed of his blood-stained clothes in a nearby canal.
The police investigation revealed a 40-hour gap in Basanti’s mobile phone activity, which helped crack the case.
