Devbrat Patnaik

Dhenkanal: A day after recovering the body of a three-year-old boy from a well at Khankira village in the district, Nihalprasad Police here claimed to have cracked the 'murder' mystery by arresting the neighbour of the family of minor boy.

The minor boy went missing Wednesday evening and following a search operation, his body was recovered from the open well closeby his house in the village on Thursday. The deceased Kalia is the son of Chandan Sahoo.

Sharing details of the investigation, Police informed that a woman has been arrested on charges of killing the three-year-old boy over an old family dispute, and she has confessed to the crime.

"The accused woman happens to be their neighbour. During interrogation, she confessed that she picked up the boy from outside his house, strangulated him to death and later dumped his body in the well. All this was an outcome of a family dispute. The woman has been arrested," a senior police official said.

Notably, the father of the deceased boy had suspected the role of his sister-in-law (wife of his younger brother) in the incident, further alleging that police responded late even as a complaint was lodged via phone. However, Inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Nihalprasad Police Station, Chittaranjan Behera refused to comment.

The minor boy went missing when he was playing in front of his house. Family members and neighbours launched massive searches till late night but to no avail. Next morning, some women found the body floating in the well while they were fetching water.

READ | Families Of Missing Children Narrate Their Journey Of Hope Against Hope

scrollToTop