BHUBANESWAR : Police on Wednesday arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly murdering his wife by forcibly injecting her with high dose anaesthesia in the city.
Two women, both employed in separate private hospitals here, have also been arrested for assisting the accused, Pradyumna Kumar, in the crime.
The victim, Subhashree Nayak (26), died on October 28. Police classified the case as murder after receiving the woman’s postmortem report.
Pradyumna and Subhashree had married in 2020 after a love relationship. Since the marriage, Pradyumna was allegedly torturing Subhashree, leading her to move in with her parents at BJB Nagar for the last six months.
Investigation revealed that Pradyumna, who worked as a pharmacist at a private hospital, had quit his job a few months back. Roji Patra and Ejita Bhuyan were employed as record room and nursing staff respectively in separate hospitals in the city.
Pradyumna met Ejita in 2023 and became acquainted with Roji the following year. He allegedly told the two women that his wife was torturing him. Subsequently, the trio conspired to kill her, said police. On October 27, Pradyumna visited Subhashree’s home and convinced her to return with him to his residence in Kesura. The next day, Pradyumna took Subhashree to Roji’s house where Ejita was also present.
The trio overpowered Subhashree and injected her with high doses of mezolam, a sedative used before medical procedures, and potassium chloride (KCl), which led to her death.
In a bid to cover up the crime, Pradyumna along with Roji and Ejita allegedly shifted Subhashree to Capital Hospital on Monday claiming that she had attempted suicide. Subhashree was declared brought dead at the hospital.
“A detailed investigation confirmed that it was a case of murder. All three accused have been arrested,” said DCP Pinak Mishra. Pradyumna hails from Marshaghai in Kendrapara. Roji is from Soro in Balasore and Ejita belongs to Gajapati.