Body of man exhumed in Bhubaneswar slum; wife prime suspect

Bhubaneswar: In a spine chilling incident, a man was allegedly killed and then buried five feet under the ground by his wife at Dhirikuti Sahi in Mancheswar area here, said police today after exhuming the body of the victim from beneath the house he was residing in.

A police complaint was filed about the man, identified as Ashok, who had gone missing a few days back. Police recovered the body buried five feet under the ground inside the house after breaking open the lock today in the presence of the Magistrate after neighbours drew its attention to the foul smell emanating from the house.

A cloth was found tied around the neck of the victim when the body was exhumed today.

A driving licence recovered from the house helped the police establish the identity of the deceased Ashok from Sulan village in Keonjhar district, a driver by profession

Benudhar Das, the owner of the thatched house where the couple was staying on rent, said, “The couple had identified themselves as Ashok and Deepa and had been staying here for around five months. About 15 days back, the wife of the man kept her belongings at my concrete house alongside the thatched house, which is under construction, after rains.”

“The couple used to fight with each other. Several times, the woman had complained before me that her husband had beaten up mercilessly and even showed the injury marks,” Das added.

Das suspected a male person might be involved in the crime as killing a person and burying him cannot be done by a woman single-handed.
As per the latest reports, the body of the man was sent to Capital Hospital for a post mortem.

The wife has, in the meanwhile, gone missing.

Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said, “Yesterday at the Mancheswar police station a complaint was lodged saying a person of Dhirikuta slum was missing. On the basis of this, a suspected place was dug out in presence of the magistrate, police officials and locals from where a dead body was recovered. It is suspected the exhumed body is to be of Ashok. On the other hand, wife of the person, a prime suspect, is missing," adding that the body is sent for a post mortem and investigation is on.

Bhoi further stated, "Questioning of Ashok's wife will only tell about the reason and throw some light on involvement of others in the case."