A day after the partially burnt body of a 26-year-old woman teacher was exhumed from a pit in an under-construction stadium on a school campus in Odisha, the main suspect in the case on Wednesday confessed to killing her, police said.
The woman went missing on October 8 after leaving her home in the Bolangir district. Her family lodged a police complaint accusing Gobind Sahu, the president of the school managing committee, of having a role in her disappearance. Sahu was detained but he managed to escape on Sunday. He was arrested on Tuesday.
Police said Sahu has confessed to murdering the teacher on October 8 in his car before burning the body and burying it in the pit. “We would produce Sahu before a court today (Wednesday),” said Bolangir police superintendent Nitin Kushalkar. Four others who allegedly helped Sahu have been detained.
Police did not comment on the reason behind the murder.
Investigators said Sahu, who started out as a civil contractor before setting up schools, told his interrogators that he took the teacher for shopping on October 8 before allegedly killing her. “The murder seems premeditated as Sahu had the pit dug up…on October 6… for installing a cellphone tower. After killing her, Sahu likely poured petrol on the body for charring the body quickly… before burying the body in the pit. The impact of the heat was so much that the (woman’s) skull has disintegrated. Some salt was also put on the body for quick decomposition,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called a 12-hour bandh in Bhawanipatna town demanding the sacking of minister Dibya Shankar Mishra. It alleged Sahu ran the school and a sex racket under Mishra’s patronage.
he teacher’s family has also alleged she threatened to expose the racket.
BJP leader Pradipta Naik has written to chief minister Naveen Patnaik demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe as Mishra is in charge of the home department. “As the minister is at the centre of controversy over giving protection to Sahu, it will hamper the investigation if he continues his office,” he wrote.
Mishra was immediately unavailable for comments
