BHUBANESHWAR: Shocking details have emerged about the mysterious deaths of a 98-year-old woman and her daughter in Sambalpur as police on Thursday arrested the nonagenarian woman's son and grandson in connection with the brutal double murder.
The bodies of the victims identified as Sairendri Dixit (65) and her mother Snehalata Dixit were recovered from their house at Hatapada in Maneswar area within Sadar police limits on Tuesday night. While Sairendri was burnt alive in the kitchen, her bedridden mother was found dead in another room.
Sambalpur police said they launched an investigation from all angles, including suspected foul play, and zeroed in on Snehalata's son Jagannath (58) and her grandson Sanket (26), who were staying in the same house. The case was challenging since there was no sign of any forceful entry into Dixits' house.
Police said Sairendri was set ablaze alive, while 98-year-old Snehalata was strangulated to death by the father-son duo. Police collected crucial evidence from the spot which indicated the mother-daughter duo was murdered inside their house. "Initially, we were not suspecting that Jagannath and his son could commit such a heinous crime. However, the circumstantial evidence indicated their strong involvement in the double murder and emotional intelligence was used while interrogating them," Sambalpur SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamoo told The New Indian Express.
Jagannath and his son Sanket then confessed to the crime. Preliminary probe suggests there was a dispute between Jagannath and his elder sister Sairendri over the house where they were staying together. The probe is continuing to ascertain if there was a fall-out between the accused and the victim over some other property too, said Bhamoo. The exact details of the crime will emerge after receiving the postmortem reports of the victims, said the police.
