Odisha man arrested for killing mother and sister for property; setting bodies on fire with son

Maneswar police claimed to have cracked the murder mystery of an elderly woman and her daughter who were allegedly killed before being set on fire. Police have arrested the elderly woman’s son and grandson for strangling the women duo to death before setting them on fire to show it as a case of a fire incident.

The deceased duo has been identified as Snehalata Dixit, 90, and her daughter Sourendri Dixit, 62 while the accused duo has been identified as Jagannath Dixit (son and brother of deceased) and his son Sanket Dixit (grandson and nephew of deceased).

According to sources, Snehalata has four daughters and a son. While three of her daughters were married, Snehalata lived with her daughter Sourendri, a retired teacher as she was unmarried. While the mother-daughter duo lived in the upper floor, her son Jagannath lived with his family in the ground floor of the same house.

On Tuesday night, the mother-daughter was mysteriously burnt alive to death while they were asleep. However, family members suspected Jagannath of killing the mother-daughter over their property. Under suspicion, police arrested Jagannath and his son who confessed to their heinous crime during interrogation.

The father and son have been arrested and will be taken for scene recreation today, police said. 

“Cracking the case, we have arrested the main accused Jagannath Dixit and his son Sanket Dixit. It was pre-planned murder for property. They first killed the woman and her daughter and subsequently burnt them to show it as a case of fire incident,” informed ASP Ajay Mishra.

“During the preliminary stage, we learnt that the two have died of suffocation which means they were strangled to death before being set on fire. We are waiting for the post-mortem reports. We first interrogated the duo and later arrested them,” he added.