SAMBALPUR: Police on Saturday arrested a 27-year-old man on charges of kidnapping and strangulating a woman to death before dumping her body in the Badarama forest under Jamankira police limits, two days ago.
The accused is Anil Pruseth (27), a resident of Kundaposi village under Kuchinda police limits. The deceased was identified as Sarita (24), of Kusumi Mahulaguda village under Mahulapali police limits. She worked at a beauty parlour in Kuchinda town and was reportedly in a relationship with Anil.
As per police, Sarita had gone missing on Thursday during the Rath Yatra celebrations. On Friday, her family lodged a missing complaint following which police launched an investigation to trace her.
During probe, the cops detained Anil for questioning. He subsequently confessed to abducting and murdering Sarita and dumping her body in the Badarama forest.
Based on the information provided by the accused, police recovered the woman’s body from the foothills of Badrama Ghat, inside the forest along National Highway-53 between Sambalpur and Deogarh.
Senior police officers, along with a scientific team, visited the spot and collected forensic evidence before the body was sent to VIMSAR, Burla, for postmortem.
As per police, the couple was in a strained relationship for sometime. “The accused had planned to abduct her for confrontation and later murdered her. The exact cause of death would be known only after the postmortem report is received,” police said.
Meanwhile, locals have levelled sexual assault allegations against Anil, which is yet to be ascertained. Kuchinda SDPO Pradeep Das said they are awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of Sarita’s death.
“Investigation is underway from all possible angles to ascertain the motive behind the crime and reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the murder,” Das said.
