With the arrest of two siblings, the police on Sunday claimed to have made a breakthrough in the murder of the lady judicial officer of Balasore.
Body of Anupama Behera (35), an officer of the Odisha Judicial Service, was recovered from her quarters on Saturday morning.
Police have arrested Jyoti Ranjan Mohanty and his younger brother Priti Ranjan Mohanty of Angul for their involvement in the
murder. Citing extra-marital affair between Anupama and Jyoti Ranjan as the reason behind the murder, police said Priti Ranjan committed the crime. Anupama had married Sushant Kumar Jena, a gynaecologist at Kanasa CHC in Puri district in 2009. Police said she developed an affair with Jyoti Ranjan, a clerk at Ranpur court in Nayagarh district where Anupama was posted as Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC). Since then, he frequented her place of postings and in her circle he was known as her husband.
“During interrogation, Jyoti Ranjan, who was married earlier, admitted that he had tied the knot with Anupama in a Kali temple in Bhadrak in 2010 when she was posted as Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) there. After the marriage, she distanced from Jena, who then started staying separately from her. Jyoti Ranjan used to visit Balasore during her posting as Process Inspector,” said Sahadevkhunta IIC Manoj Rout.
The second marriage of Jyoti Ranjan, a father of two, however, did not augur well as his first wife attempted suicide twice. This had annoyed his brothers.
When Priti Ranjan advised his brother to end his relationship with Anupama, he pleaded helplessness. On Thursday, Priti Ranjan came to Balasore and confessed that he had killed Anupama when she did not agree to leave his brother.
Priti Ranjan, police said, asphyxiated her before leaving the quarters in the wee hours of Friday. Anupama had recently been transferred to Koraput as Sub-judge and was to join there on March 25. “The two siblings will be produced in the court on Monday,” Rout said.