JAGATSINGHPUR: Biridi police arrested an elderly couple along with their son from Hajipur on charges of murdering the daughter-in-law over alleged extra-marital affair in August.
The accused, identified as Sadananada Behera (50), wife Buli (46) and son Rakesh (26), were nabbed following a polygraph test conducted last week.
Sources said the deceased Suchitra (24) who belonged to Khagipur village in Konark, had married Rakesh in 2014. The couple initially stayed in Puri but Suchitra came to stay with her in-laws in Hajipur after she became pregnant in 2019.
She delivered a baby boy but as per her in-laws’ claims, she was involved in an affair with a youth from the locality around that time. On August 11 night, villagers saw Suchitra’s room on fire and the baby crying outside their house.
On rushing to the spot, they saw Suchitra’s body hanging with her hands and legs tied. Accusing the in-laws and husband of murder, the deceased’s brother Siba Prasad Behera lodged an FIR with Biridi police and claimed that the trio killed her and tried to make it look like suicide.
Investigation revealed that the child was shifted to a safer place and his birth certificate recovered before the Suchitra’s bedroom was set on fire. As only the accused were present at the time of the incident, police interrogated them.
Basing inconsistencies in their statements in subsequent lie-detector tests, police registered a case under section 498-A, 302,201,436, 120 -B and 34 of the IPC against the trio.
Biridi IIC Niranjan Mallick said the accused were found guilty during polygraph tests. They have been arrested and produced in court. Police has requested five-day remand for further investigation, he informed.