Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police on Thursday claimed to have arrested a Class XII student and seized the murder weapon from his possession in connection with the stabbing of a minor boy at his home in Benapanjuri village under Jatni police limits in Odisha’s Khurda district.
The victim, identified as Subhamswaroop Paltasingh, was stabbed to death while he was studying in his room on Wednesday evening. During the incident, his parents were teaching other students in an adjacent room. He was a student of Class IX in Adarsha Vidyalaya Sandhapur near Jatni
According to Bhubaneswar DCP Prateek Singh, during the course of the investigation into the murder, police recovered a school bag from near Subhamswaroop’s house. It contained a school uniform and some other materials, including the murder weapon. The police identified the accused from the school bag and his uniform and called him to the Jatni police station.
“The accused confessed to committing the crime during interrogation. He revealed that he was taking tuition from the victim’s parents two years back and had some tuition fee dues that he could not pay. The parents of the victim often humiliated him in public for not paying the dues. The accused admitted that angered over repeated humiliation he killed Subhamswaroop,” Singh told the media.
However, Subhamswaroop’s parents had a different story to tell the media. His father said that the victim was the nephew of one Saroj Mahapatra of his village and hailed from Nayagarh in Odisha. “I agreed to teach him because he was also a relative. However, I do not believe that he killed my son for the dues, which amounted to a paltry Rs 3,000.”
Subhamswaroop’s father further said that neither he nor his son had any enemy. “My son was a brilliant student and was loved by everyone in school and in the village. I believe that someone had given a ‘soopari’ (contract) to the accused to kill my son.”
Meanwhile, DCP Singh said that further investigation is on into the case.
