KENDRAPARA: Abhaya Sutar of Chaulia village in Patkura was charged with murdering his wife seven years back. He even spent a month in jail for the alleged crime while all his claims of innocence fell on deaf years.

On Monday, he was proved not guilty after police nabbed his ‘dead’ wife and her lover from Pipili in Puri district. Abhaya married Itishree Moharana of Samagola village on February 7, 2013.

But, after only two months of marriage, Itishree went missing from his house. Abhaya launched a frantic search for his wife but was unable to trace her.

Later, he lodged a missing complaint with Patkura police on April 20, 2013. On May 14 the same year, Itishree’s father Prahallad Moharana filed an FIR in the police station alleging that his daughter was being tortured by her husband over dowry.

He claimed that Abhay dumped Itishree’s body somewhere after killing her.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested Abhaya and sent him to jail. After languishing in jail for around a month, he was released on bail. After his release from prison, Abhaya decided to devote all his time to trace Itishree and prove his innocence.

Suspecting that his wife may have eloped with someone, he visited many places in search of her.

Finally, he tracked Itishree at Pipili where she was living with her lover. On getting information from Abhaya, police rushed to Pipili and detained Itishree and one Rajiv Lochan Moharana.

Both were produced in the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) at Kendrapara on Monday where their statements were recorded under Section 164 of CrPC.

In her statement, Itishree said she had an affair with Rajiv before her marriage.

However, her parents were against their relationship and forced her to marry Abhaya. After two months of marriage, she fled her in-laws’ house in the night and eloped with Rajiv. Both fled to Gujarat and stayed there for seven years. Itishree also gave birth to a son and a daughter.

Recently, they returned to Odisha. Patkura IIC Sujit Pradhan said Rajiv is earning his livelihood by driving an auto-rickshaw in Bhubaneswar. The family are now residing in Pipili.

Abhaya said, “When police failed to locate Itishree, I decided to take matters into my own hands. In these seven years, I have visited many places to track her down. Now that I have proved my innocence, I am a satisfied man.”