Prime accused in woman sarpanch candidate murder nabbed

The accused has been identified as Sudhir Gamang (32) of Ramachandrapur village under R Udayagiri police station limits.

Giving details to the media, Gajapati SP Sushil Kumar Panigrahi said Mini Dalabehera had filed her nomination as a Congress candidate for the Baghamari panchayat sarpanch on January 11. On the same day she had gone to Carana Bank in Chandragiri for a personal work.

“On January 13, she called up Sudhir Gamang in her mobile phone at about 2 PM. Following her call, Sudhir went to Chandragiri and brought her in his bike. On the way he stopped his vehicle at Sagada hill forest area near Jirang village. There he had an altercation with Mini over her relations with other persons. The accused during interrogation, had told the police that he had earlier cautioned Mini not to keep relations with other people except him to which she had ignored. Due to this reason, both of them had a strained relationship. Besides, after her marriage, Mini had a quarrel with her in-laws for which she came back to her paternal house was staying with her parents at Baghamari village since then,” Panigrahi said.

Continuing the sequence of murder, the SP said the duo after reaching near Sagada hill forest, sat down under a tree and drank country liquor with mixture and cold drinks. “As Sudhir had decided to eliminate Mini, he had brought an iron rod with him. After consuming liquor Sudhir suddenly attacked Mini with the iron rod on the back of her head killing her on the spot. Soon after her death, he took out a bottle of kerosene from the dickey of his bike and set her on fire after pouring it on her body. Before returning to his village in the evening, he took away her mobile phone and the gold ornament she was wearing,” he informed.

He said the Chandragiri police began investigation into the case after the family members of the deceased lodged a complaint on January 16.