Anonymous letter helps police crack murder case, six held

NUAPADA: Ten months after a 17-year-old girl went missing, an anonymous letter led Nuapada police to crack the case and arrest six persons on Wednesday for allegedly murdering the minor. Parmananda Sahu alias Sonu (19), Banamali Rout (22), Kaahu Rout (21), Basanta Rout (19) and two juveniles were arrested on charges of kidnapping and murdering the girl of Nuapada town who went missing in January this year.

Sources said the girl went missing on January 3 following which her family lodged a complaint with Nuapada police. Though police started investigation, no headway could be made in the case. On October 25, the girl’s father received an anonymous letter from Mahasamund district of nearby Chhattisgarh which stated that ‘six persons from Jhilmila village in Nuapada block had hatched a plan to murder his daughter’. The names of the accused were also mentioned in the letter.

On being informed about the letter, police took Sonu of Jhilmila village into custody. During interrogation, the accused confessed that he was in a love relationship with the victim girl. In January, the girl informed him she was four months pregnant. Sonu asked her to go for abortion but the girl refused. Subsequently, Sonu with the help of Banamali hatched a plan to kill her.

As per the plan, Sonu took the girl to a secluded place in the night of January 3 and strangled her to death. He then buried her body in a nearby paddy field with the help of his accomplices.Basing on Sonu’s statement, police exhumed the girl’s body from the paddy field on Tuesday. After the girl’s father identified the body, Sonu and five of his accomplices were arrested.

Additional SP, Nuapada Indramani Behera said four of the accused were produced in court. The two minors were produced before the juvenile justice board, Bhawanipatna and sent to correction home.
“The girl’s body was sent for postmortem. We have also asked for a DNA test for confirmation. We are also trying to trace the origin of the letter,” Behera added.