After remaining tightlipped for over 24 hours, the Commissionerate police on Wednesday claimed that they have solved an intriguing missing woman case, which turned out to be a coldblooded murder. The police claimed that the missing teacher of a private school was brutally murdered exactly about a month ago and her body was secretly burnt in a local crematorium at night hours with a motive to remove all circumstantial evidences associated with the case.
Raiding several places during the past 24 hours, the police have arrested five persons in this connection, including the key accused, one Paresh Mohapatra, brother of a senior political leader of the city. The police also retrieved the remnants of the body from the crematorium and seized several wearing apparels of the victim and her laptop, pen drive and are trying to get the call detail records of the victim.
Initially declining to provide any details of the investigation, the Police Commissioner RP Sharma told the media here on Wednesday that the victim, a married woman namely Alakananda Mishra was murdered between 1 pm and 3 pm on July 29 in her rented house at Sector 10 of Abhinav Bidanasi under the Markat Nagar police station.
Sharma said the woman was strangulated to death with her own dupatta by the key accused and two of his associates. “later, arranging an ambulance and two labourers, the key accused and his associates shifted the body to a crematorium and burnt it there in night hours,” Sharma said, adding that the victim was working as a teacher in a city-based private school run by the key accused.
Sources said the victim, who had deserted her husband and in-laws in Bhubaneswar, was staying in a rented accommodation here for past one year. The key accused was frequently visiting her place as she was helping him write a book. “The motive behind the murder could be a personal dispute that turned violent,” the police said, adding that the accused are booked under Sections 302, 201, 504 and 34 of the IPC.
The incident came to light when the victim’s brother lodged an FIR alleging that his sister had gone missing for over a month and they were not able to trace and making inquiries at the school where she was working.