KENDRAPARA: The decomposed body of a 42-year-old woman, who was reported missing three days back, was found with multiple injury marks inside a vending zone cabin at Pattamundai town here on Sunday night.
The deceased was identified as Banita Rout, wife of Atulya Rout who works as a plumber in Dubai. Police suspect the woman was murdered as her body bore deep injuries.
Sources said Banita left her rented house at Belatala village within Pattamundai police limits on August 27, leaving her eight-year-old son at home. When she did not return till late in the night, her mother Golap launched a search but could not trace her.
The next day, she filed a missing person report in Pattamundai police station.
On Sunday night, locals became alarmed after finding a foul smell emanating from a vending zone cabin in Pattamundai town. On being informed, police rushed to the spot and recovered Banita’s decomposed body from the cabin. The body was sent to the local hospital for postmortem.
IIC of Pattamundai police station Bandana Patra said after murdering the woman, the killer packed her body in a polythene bag. The culprit also poured cooking oil on the body and left the cabin after locking it. Prima facie, it appears that the murder took place three to four days back.
The IIC said initial probe revealed that the cabin owner Santosh Parida (40) of Bari in Jajpur district called Banita repeatedly on her phone before she went missing. Santosh also resided in a rented house at Belatala and was a neighbour of the deceased. He was running a small eatery from the cabin for the last two years.
Police have registered a case under sections 103 (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the BNS. A scientific team visited the crime scene for investigation. A blood-stained sharp weapon was seized from the cabin.
“We are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of the woman’s death. Police are scanning the footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area and checking the victim’s call records to piece together the sequence of events. Efforts are underway to trace Santosh. Multiple teams have been deployed to apprehend him,” the police officer added.