KENDRAPARA: Police on Monday arrested a youth for allegedly killing a 21-year-old girl for turning down his marriage proposal in Marshaghai area of the district.
The accused is 25-year-old Arajit Mohanty (25) of Balisahi village. The deceased was identified as Sasmita Behera of Jadupur village under Marshaghai police limits. Sasmita was a Plus Three Arts student in Marshaghai college.
Police said the victim had gone missing from her house on Friday evening. The next morning, locals spotted the girl’s body with her throat slit in a water-filled ditch near Jadupur and raised an alarm. On being informed, police reached the spot for investigation and recovered a blood-stained knife near the ditch. A forensic team and dog squad also inspected the spot, said IIC of Marshaghai police station Tapan Nayak.
The IIC said investigation revealed that Arajit killed the girl and dumped her body in the ditch. “He committed the crime after Sasmita spurned his marriage proposal. During interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed to the crime. He was arrested under sections 103 and 238 of the BNS,” Nayak said.
When police took Arajit to Jadupur for crime scene recreation later in the day, tension erupted in the village as residents blocked the local road and demanded that the accused be handed over to them. The situation was brought under control after more security forces rushed to the village and pacified the irate villagers, added the police officer.
The accused was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody.