Police arrest 4 in Acharya Vihar murder case

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate police of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on Wednesday arrested four accused in connection with the murder case of a landlady in Acharya Vihar area.

The accused have been identified as Vijay Yadav alias Vijay Behera, Priya Ranjan Pati, Ranjit Jena and Butu Jena. While Priya Ranjan and Ranjit are MBA students, Vijay is a BBA student and Butu is local beetle shop owner.

On the fateful day of September 14, all four accused approached the landlord Kunjabihari Panigrahi and the landlady for a room in the hostel run by the septuagenarian couple, according to police.  

A scuffle erupted among them after the hostel owners denied a room, police said. The verbal abuse a while later turned into physical assault and the accused tried to overpower the couple. When the landlady resisted the physical assault one of the accused fetched a laptop modem cable to strangulate the lady to death, police added.

After the accused found the woman dead, they fled the crime scene but not before attacking Kunjabihari with a sharp edged weapon. Police have recovered one laptop, two mobiles, jewellery and cash from possession of the accused.   

The critically injured Kunjabihari is still battling for his life at a private hospital here.