SAMBALPUR: While mystery shrouds the murder of a girl, whose naked body was recovered from Sahebi village within Rairakhol police limits, primary probe reveals she must have been killed after a sudden provocation over sharing of soap with the accused.
Additional superintendent of police, Haresh Chandra Pandey said, “The accused, Hari Behera (28) has already confessed to the murder and has given his account of the incident. Although the villagers and family have alleged rape, it has not been ascertained yet. More details can be obtained once the postmortem report is received.
So far, the incident appears to have occurred out of sudden provocation by the victim following a brief altercation with the accused. Behera killed the victim with his bare hands without any weapons.”
As per the account given by Behera, on the day of the incident (August 30), he was in an inebriated state and had gone to the village pond to clean up. While cleaning himself, he took the soap of the victim, without her permission and this led to an argument between the two. Subsequently, as the argument intensified, the victim slapped Behera and in retaliation, he thrashed her to death and fled the spot.
Following the incident, on September 1, the body of the girl was found without clothes near Kaunsigul in Rairakhol by a few women. While the family alleged rape and murder and named Behera in the FIR, the residents of Sahebi blocked Rairakhol-Angul road, demanding his arrest. Later, Behera was arrested and forwarded to court the same day.
The villagers also protested on Monday, demanding remand of the accused for scene recreation, besides his expulsion from the village and compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the victim. On the other hand, while the body of the victim was brought back to the village after postmortem, it was cremated 40 km away, at Rairakhol NAC crematorium, as residents of two villages denied to perform the rites on the belief that cremation of a rape victim would bring bad luck to the area.
Meanwhile, with the villagers still demanding remand of the accused for a thorough investigation, in order to avert any untoward situation, two platoons of police have been deployed in the village.
Meanwhile, the ASP informed Behera will be brought on remand for further questioning. However, while the villagers claimed that victim’s family had a dispute with Behera, police has denied any such enmity between both the parties.