Former Odisha MLA held in 2016 double-murder case in Chhattisgarh

Raipur/Bhubaneswar/Jharsuguda: Chhattisgarh police on Wednesday night arrested BJD leader Anup Kumar Sai for the 2016 double murder of a woman and her 14-year-old daughter.
An embarrassed BJD sacked Sai (59) from the party on Thursday and he was also removed as chairman of the state warehousing corporation by the Odisha government.
A three-time Congress MLA from Brajrajnagar, Sai was summoned several times by Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) police but he didn’t respond to any of them, leading to his arrest.
Raigarh SP Santosh Singh told TOI, “Chakradhar Nagar police have picked up former MLA Anup Sai for interrogation in connection with the double murder case of two women in May 2016. Sai has admitted that he was involved in the murder with some of his aides. He has been arrested under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).”
The mutilated bodies of a woman and young girl were found in the forests of Raigarh, bordering Jharsuguda district. Their faces were crushed beyond recognition. It took eight months for the police to identify them as Kalpana Das (35) and her 14-year-old daughter Pravati, residents of Brajarajnagar.
During investigation, police found some clues in 2018 that indicated Sai was a close acquaintance of Kalpana, say sources. Chhattisgarh police repeatedly summoned Sai on the basis of evidence but he ignored them. “He was picked up for interrogation when police found substantial evidence,” the SP added.
Singh said that the woman had been Sai’s live-in partner for several years. “Sai is the prime accused in the murder of his live-in partner. In his confession, he said that the woman was blackmailing him and was insisting on marriage. Though her daughter was from her previous husband, both mother and daughter were killed in cold blood with a sharp-edged weapon,” the SP said.
“We had issued him summons to appear before us for interrogation, but he dodged them. On Wednesday night, we went to Jharsuguda and brought him in for questioning. We arested him after interrogation. Sai killed the woman and her daughter and tried to destroy evidence,” said an officer of Chakradhar Nagar police.
“We had formed several teams to solve this case. Later, we found Sai’s complicity,” said Raigarh additional SP Abhishek Verma. Family members of Sai and Kalpana were unavailable for comment.
Sai represented Brajarajnagar assembly constituency for the Congress from 2000 to 2014. He switched to BJD in 2014 but lost the election and was denied a ticket in 2019. In August 2019, chief minister Naveen Patnaik appointed him as chairperson of Odisha state warehousing corporation, a state-owned public sector undertaking.
EoM