Man arrested for lover's murder in Bhubaneswar, another held for framing rival

Bhubaneswar: Police have arrested a man for the murder of a 30-year-old woman in Bhubaneswar, as well as another person who attempted to frame a rival by planting false evidence at the crime scene.

The murdered woman has been identified as Sneha Behera, a resident of Kandhamal district.

Briefing journalists here on Thursday, Twin City Police Commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh described incident as "particularly intriguing." An unidentified decomposed body was discovered in Dhauli police station area on January 28.

During investigation, it was found that a missing person report had been filed at Khandagiri police station on January 17 by one Banita Digal, also from Kandhamal.

She reported that her sister, Sneha Behera alias Aparna (30), who had been working in Baramunda, had been missing since January 10.

Following a post-mortem examination, the cause of death was confirmed to be asphyxia due to neck compression—a clear case of homicide.

A joint investigation was launched by Khandagiri and Dhauli police stations, during which it was revealed that Chandan Parida (27), a security guard by profession, was having an affair with the victim.

According to the police commissoner, on the day of the incident, Sneha and Chandan visited Dhauli Stupa and later went to Dhauli Chhak.

According to Singh, an argument broke out between them, as the accused suspected Sneha of being involved with another man and frequently speaking with him over the phone.

The argument escalated as they walked toward the river embankment near Basuaghai village.

"At the height of the quarrel, Chandan slapped the victim forcefully, causing her to fall to the ground. He then strangled her with a ‘chunuri’ (scarf) and disposed of her body by the roadside," Singh said.

In a twist to the case, police uncovered an attempt to falsely implicate another person.

Mitu Parida of Chandanpur, Puri, upon seeing news of the body’s discovery, devised a plan to frame Ramesh Sahu of Jajpur—a man he was in conflict with.

Mitu was reportedly having an affair with Ramesh’s wife.

"As part of his plan, Mitu placed Ramesh’s identity documents in a wallet along with a fake suicide note, which he planted at the crime scene to falsely link Ramesh to the murder," the police commissioner said.

Ramesh was initially interrogated, but police soon uncovered the truth. A separate case has been registered at Dhauli police station, and Mitu Parida has also been arrested.