Bhubaneswar: After groping in dark for days to ascertain the identity of the woman, whose headless body was recovered along Bharatpur-Chandaka Road near Dasapur village on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on February 4, Commissionerate Police on Thursday claimed major breakthrough in the ‘blind case’ by arresting two accused in the gruesome murder case.
Police Commissioner Sudhanshu Sarangi said that the victim, identified as Puspalata Roul (28) was strangulated to death over some marital discord on February 3, her head was severed and body dumped along the Bharatpur-Chandaka road in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
The severed head was disposed of some 2 kms away from the body. The remains of the head were recovered from an elephant trench after two accused- Sanjay alias Angad Das and Srikant Das alias Chandu were caught after a detailed probe, said Sarangi.
According to Sarangi, the deceased Puspalata had developed some relationship with the accused Sanjay, who was initially staying at her residence on rent. Puspalata had come in contact with Sanjay after her husband’s death.
“Sanjay was staying on rent at Puspalata’s house and she knew him for the last six years. Though Puspalata started living at Tarini Nagar basti at Bharatpur, she was frequently visiting him. It was one month back that Puspalata again started living with Sanjay,” said Sarangi.
Later, Pusplata got married to one Pritiranjan Pati and starting living with him at Chakeseini area. However, she again left Pritiranjan and started living with Sanjay.
According to Sarangi, there was some dispute between Puspalata and Sanjay over the matter. On February 3, Sanjay strangulated Puspalata to death and with the help of his friend Srikanta Das alias Chandu and planned to dispose of the body. They then went to Aiginia market and bought a pair of surgical gloves and knife. They severed the head and disposed of the body at Bharatpur-Chandaka road.
Senior officials of Commissionerate Police informed that ascertaining the identity of the woman was a challenge. Several posters were released and the Police also announced a cash award of Rs 50,000.
“Though we started getting some inputs, there was no truth in it. On February 9, we got concrete information through which we got to know the identity of the deceased woman,” Sarangi added.