Odisha police solves decade-old murder case: Body of man killed over goat theft exhumed
By Sukanta Kumar Mohanty
BHUBANESWAR, DEC. 13: The Odisha police on Monday exhumed the skeletal remains of a person who was allegedly murdered and buried for “stealing” goats 10 years ago at Sundarikhal village in Dhenkanal district.
Three persons were arrested for their alleged involvement in the crime.
The accused were identified as Batakrushna Dehury, Santosh Pradhan and Dillip Nayak. While the first of the trio was the main accused, the last duo was Dehury’s accomplices.
The incident has now set a shockwave across the locality.
According to police, Dolagovinda Behera, the deceased who was a resident of Sundarikhal village, was in the habit of stealing goats from his neighbour Batakrushna Dehury’s pen.
In order to settle the score, one day, Dehury surrounded the pen with the electric wire. Behera on his way home from his shop when tried to enter the pen came in contact with the live wire and was electrocuted. Dehury with the help of Santosh Pradhan and Dillip Nayak took the body to a nearby jungle and buried it. It was July 23, 2013
The next day, the family members launched a frantic search for him but to no avail. It didn’t occur to their mind that he could have been murdered. However, they lodged a complaint at the Town police station, suspecting murder in 2014.
All these years, the family members were in dark about the state of Dolagovinda. They had been maintaining good relationships with the family members of the accused.
After 10 years of the crime, the police had leads regarding the crime from some sources. On the basis of this, they launched an investigation and detained Dehury. During the investigation, the accused confessed to his crime, leading to the arrest of the trio.
“He was electrocuted to death and then his body was buried by four persons from our village,” said Deepak Behera, the deceased’s brother.
“We had then searched for him everywhere but failed in our attempt to trace him. They (accused persons) had also been asked about the whereabouts of him but they remained silent,” said Bhagabati Sendha, deceased’s sister.
On Sunday, Dehury was taken to the spot for a crime demonstration. Later, the police exhumed two pieces of bones which have been sent to the forensic lab.
“Batakrushna, the accused, had been suspecting the victim Dolagobinda for the goats going missing from his pen. To teach him a lesson, he fenced the pen with a live wire. Dolagovinda came in contact with the live wire when trying to enter the pen and got electrocuted. Later, the accused buried the body of the victim in the nearby forest,” said Suryamani Pradhan, Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Dhenkanal.
