JAGATSINGHPUR: Police on Wednesday arrested a couple and their accomplice for brutally killing a youth by chopping his limbs and head before throwing his body into Machhagaon canal due to rivalry over brown sugar trade.
The deceased was identified as 25-year-old Ramchandra Sahoo, an illegal brown sugar trader of Badabag village within Jagatsinghpur police limits.
The arrested persons are Keshab Behera, his wife Lina and Parsuram Behera. Ramchandra was involved in illegal brown sugar trade for quite some time. He had rivalry with Keshab and Parsuram of the same village over brown sugar business.
The duo was on look out for an opportunity to el iminate Ramchandra. Police said on Sunday night, Keshab arranged a feast in his house and invited both Parsuram and Ramchandra. While the feast was underway, Keshab and Parsuram tied Ramchandra's limbs and gagged him with a cloth. The duo along with Lina then chopped his legs and hands with a hatchet before beheading him.
They then packed his dismembered body in a jute bag and threw it into Machhagaon canal. When Ramchandra didn't return home, his mother Sabitri Sahoo lodged a missing complaint with the police on Monday.
Basing on the complaint, police detained Keshab and Lina suspecting their involvement in Ramchandra’s disappearance.
During interrogation, the couple confessed to have murdered Ramchandra with help of Parsuram. Meanwhile, villagers spotted the decomposed body of Ramchandra floating in Machhagaon canal on Wednesday and informed police who rushed to spot. Apart from Ramchandra's body, his slippers and motorcycle was also seized from the canal embankment on Wednesday.
Jagatsinghpur IIC Pravash Sahu said it was a pre-planned murder. During interrogation, the three accused admitted that they killed Ramchandra due to past rivalry over brown sugar trade. Ramchandra had several excise cases pending against him in the local police station. The accused trio was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody.