Baripada: With the arrest of three persons including the prime accused, Kaptipada police have successfully cracked the mystery about the recovery of a body buried in a field near the Samibrukhya area on Wednesday. It was a well-planned murder, claims police.
While four persons were involved in the murder, three including the prime accused have been arrested following raids by the police at various places and they will be forwarded to court today, informed Sarthak Ray, Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Kaptipada briefing reporters today.
Police have arrested prime accused Prafulla Behera of Balasore Industrial area, Jaichandra Singh and Ras Mohan Singh of Debala area, while another accused is on the run.
“On the day the body was recovered, on the very same day it was identified within two hours. The deceased was identified as Chittaranjan Behera of Padampur village in the Remuna area of Balasore district. On investigation with the help of a scientific team we found the involvement of four persons in the crime. Three are from the Kaptipada area, and the mastermind who happens to be the deceased’s friend is from the Balasore area,” said Ray.
Speaking on the motive behind the murder, the SDPO said that the prime accused was very angry with the deceased since the latter who had purchased a vehicle through him was not getting the ownership of the vehicle transferred nor was getting the vehicle insured.
“It was a well-planned murder in which the prime accused by utilising his other friends had buried the deceased in the Samibrukhya area after murdering him. We came to know that the family members of the deceased had lodged a missing person report at Balasore Industrial police station. Based on the missing report Balasore police had searched for the deceased. All pieces of evidence in this case have been collected in the presence of government witnesses. We will be forwarding the three accused persons to court today. We will continue with our efforts to apprehend the accused who is absconding,” said Ray.
Ray said that the accused persons had brought the deceased to the Samibrukhya area from Balasore and have relished bread and mutton curry.
“Since it was a well-planned murder, the accused persons had with them the weapon of offence and instruments for digging the ditch to bury the body. First, they hit him on the head and then slit his throat. Then they dug a hole and buried his body. To destroy evidence they have torn his shirt, packed the body in a sack and applied salt for its faster decomposition. Then they proceeded to the deceased’s house in Balasore got the VCR of the CCTV installed there and disposed of it at a pond in Udala. We have recovered an iPhone and ATM card of the deceased from Sono river near Kathpal under Nilgiri police limits,” the SDPO said explaining in detail the modus operandi of the crime.
The SDPO revealed that the prime accused has a hotel business in Balasore and also deals in second-hand vehicles.
He added that the prime accused who hails from Balasore and his friends who hail from the Kaptipada area have committed the murder.
