In an alleged dowry torture and murder case, the Sadar police detained four persons here and recovered the decomposed body of a woman. However, the main accused in the case identified as Bijay Krushna Bagudai (28) is at large along with his 3-year-old son.
The arrested included the victim woman’s father-in-law Suranjan Bagudai (64), a former police inspector and her mother –in-law Manjulata Bagudai (56). Suranjan’s father late Upendra Bagudai is a freedom fighter.
The incident came to the fore on Thursday after a foul stench emanated from the backyard of Suranjan’s house in Harida village. On being informed, police rushed to the spot and recovered the decomposed body from the backyard in presence of a magistrate and local tehsildar Pinaki Pattnaik. The police also recovered a dagger from under the earth by the side of the body.
The body bore injury marks and cut marks around the neck. Police suspecting it to be a case of murder registered a case under various sections of IPC and 4 DP Act. The body was sent to the district headquarters hospital for autopsy.
Interestingly, Suranjan had informed police about missing of his daughter–in-law on Sunday and again on Thursday after he smelt the stench inside the campus of his house.
After being confirmed that the in-laws killed the woman, the villagers ransacked Suranjan’s house and blocked the road near Kuruda for several hours demanding immediate arrest of the woman’s husband.
The victim was identified as Puspalata Mahapatra. She had married with Bijay Krushna in a temple about six years ago. She was being mentally and physically tortured by the family for want of dowry. “We have begun an investigation after registering a case of murder and dowry torture. The husband is absconding,” informed Sadar police station IIC Jaswant Samal.