In a heart-wrenching incident that shocked many in Odisha, the Jharsuguda Police in Odisha have arrested a person who, fearing conviction in a rape case, brutally murdered the victim, chopping her body into pieces and disposing of them in different locations, according to an official statement made on Wednesday.
The accused was identified as Kunu Kisan of Dharuadihi area in Sundargarh district.
Speaking to media persons, Parmar Smit Parshottamdas, the Jharsuguda Superintendent of Police, stated that police received a complaint regarding the victim’s disappearance from her work place in Jharsuguda on December 7.
Based on the complaint, police launched an investigation by registering a missing report on the next day.
He further added that police later came to know from the CCTV footage that the victim on the day of missing was spotted leaving in a bike with two persons.
Later, the investigating officials also zeroed down the accused through the scientific analysis of various clues and the telephonic data.
As per the police, it was later ascertained that Kisan was arrested on the charges of raping the victim who was a minor then in August 27, 2023. However, the accused got out of jail after securing bail from the court on December 4, 2023.
Meanwhile, the victim had gone to her uncle’s residence in Badamala area of Jharsuguda district where she started working in a beauty parlour.
Sources claimed that the victim was scheduled to testify against the accused on December 15, 2024. Fearing conviction in the rape case, the accused hatched the plan to kill the victim.
“The accused suspected that he would certainly be convicted in the rape, if the victim gave her statement in the court. So, he thought the victim’s death would secure his acquittal in the case. He made meticulous plans to get away with after committing the crime,” said Jharsuguda SP.
As per the plan, the accused Kisan first convinced the victim to come with him and later procured a knife, changed the nameplate of the bike, etc to avoid getting arrested. On December 7, Kisan along with his accomplice took the girl to Sundargarh where he hacked her to death at a secluded spot in Lathikata area in the intervening night of December 7 and 8, 2024.
The accused later chopped her body into several pieces and threw them away at different places near the Brahmani river in Sundargarh.
Following the information elicited during interrogation, police recovered the body parts, weapons of offence, etc.
The Inspector General of Police, Northern Range, Sambalpur, Himansu Kumar Lal asserted that police will take all the efforts to ensure a speedy trial and conviction in the sensitive case.