BHADRAK: A 14-year-old boy who was detained for allegedly killing a woman and her minor daughter was charged with triple murder after his grandmother’s body was traced by police in a village under Bhadrak rural police on Thursday.
The minor boy has been officially arrested. The deceased were identified as Sukanti Munda, 38, and her nine-year-old daughter Mini. Their bodies were found near a farmland near Raibani Chowk under Ganjijang panchayat on Wednesday.
On the day, police found a 60-year-old woman’s body half a kilometre away from the previous crime scene. The victim Sumati Munda was grandmother of the juvenile offender, police said.
Bhadrak rural police said Sukanti and her daughter Mini had gone to Bhadrak district headquarters hospital for treatment. When they didn’t return, Sukanti’s husband Raju Munda frantically searched for them with the help of villagers. Raju first spotted the bodies of his wife and daughter in a farm field. The villagers suspected the 14 year-old-boy who had climbed atop an electricity pole near the crime scene and informed police.
Inspector-in-charge of Bhadrak rural police station Amitabh Das said, during interrogation the accused reportedly confessed to the crime. Police said the minor had given Rs 1,000 to Sukanti but when she failed to repay, the boy allegedly strangulated her.
He murdered Mini by throttling her as she was the sole eyewitness of her mother’s murder, said Das. Further investigation is underway, the IIC added.
Police are also investigating if the victims were sexually assaulted. Police sent the bodies for postmortem.