Bhubaneswar: Family of techie blames close friend for death

BHUBANESWAR: Two days after a woman software engineer allegedly died by suicide in Sailashree Vihar area here, her family members on Monday blamed a man, who is her close friend, for her death. Body of Sweta Utkal Kumari, 25, who belonged to Bhadrak district, was found hanging in her apartment on Saturday. She was working as a technology analyst with a reputed IT company here and had been staying with her three women colleagues in the apartment on rent.
Police recovered her diary in which she had mentioned her relationship with the man, whose name is Soumyajeet Mohapatra. "He had been blackmailing her and threatening her to make their photos viral on social media. She was under tremendous stress. The police should interrogate him," one of her kin said.
Police said they would question Mohapatra, who works in a private company here. Police are also examining Sweta's mobile phone. A case under section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the IPC has been registered at Chandrasekharpur police station.
The state has witnessed a spurt in suicide cases, including the ones by BJB College student Ruchika Mohanty and Ollywood actor Raimohan Parida, recently.
On July 6, Saheed Nagar police here arrested the boyfriend of a MCA student after she allegedly committed suicide following a dispute in their relationship. Ashrita Senapati, the MCA student, had left a suicide note, blaming her boyfriend Satya Prakas Das for her death.