BERHAMPUR: A Class VIII girl and her two male friends were arrested for allegedly murdering a woman who had adopted the teenager after rescuing her from the roadside when she was only three days old, Gajapati police said on Friday.
The 13-year-old accused with the help of Ganesh Rath (21) and Dinesh Sahu (20) smothered 54-year-old Rajalaxmi Kar at her rented house in Paralakhemundi town on April 29. The teenager reportedly committed the crime as Rajalaxmi opposed her relationship with the two other accused.
Gajapati SP Jatindra Panda said Rajalaxmi had adopted the accused girl after finding her from a roadside 13 years back.
After the death of her husband, she moved to Paralakhemundi town four years back in order to provide better education to the girl and rented a house at Sundhi Sahi. She admitted her foster daughter to the local Kendriya Vidyalaya.
Panda said on April 29, the girl informed Rajalaxmi’s brother Siba Prasad Mishra of IRC Village in Bhubaneswar that her adoptive mother suffered a heart attack and was taken to the district headquarters hospital (DHH), Paralakhemundi where she was declared dead. The next day, the girl along with Ganesh and Dinesh took Rajalaxmi’s body to Bhubaneswar in an ambulance and the woman’s last rites were performed in presence of her relatives.
The SP said after a couple of days, Siba came to Paralakhemundi and found the girl’s mobile phone hidden in the rented house. On checking it, he found the girl’s chats with Ganesh and Dinesh on Instagram app. He also discovered that the gold ornaments of his deceased sister were missing from the house. Besides, Rajalaxmi had reportedly informed Siba that she had Rs 60,000 in cash before her death. The cash too was missing.
Suspecting foul play, he lodged a complaint with Paralakhemundi police on May 14. During investigation, police found that the girl was involved in a physical relationship with the two other accused. When Rajalaxmi got to know about it, she strongly objected to the relationship. Subsequently, the minor hatched a plan with the two accused to eliminate her adoptive mother.
Accordingly on April 29, she mixed sleeping pills in her mother’s food and smothered her to death with the help of Ganesh and Dinesh by placing pillows on her face. Later, the trio took the woman to the DHH claiming that she suffered a heart attack.
Panda said during interrogation, the three accused confessed to their crime following which they were arrested on Thursday. Police also recreated the crime scene on Friday.
Three mobiles phones, screenshots of the girl’s Instagram chats, two pillows and the deceased’s gold ornaments were recovered from the accused. Ganesh and Dinesh were produced in court. The minor girl will be produced before the juvenile justice board. Further investigation is underway, the SP added.