Odisha Police Intensifies Probe Into 8-year-old Murder Case

Sambalpur: Intensifying probe into the brutal murder of one Jayashree Mishra almost 8 years after the incident, the Sambalpur Police today undertook further steps to exhume more body parts of the deceased from the spot where she was buried after the alleged murder.

A team of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology (FMT) department and Burla Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) along with officials of Sambalpur district police carried out an extensive excavation and search at the site from where a skull reportedly belonging to that of Jayashree was recovered on July 26, 2019. However, the forensic team said they were not able to find any evidence.

"During preliminary probe, we had recovered some pieces of skull of the deceased and sent them for DNA analysis to Bhubaneswar State Forensic Science Laboratory. But the of samples were too less for DNA analysis, so we are looking for more evidences like a bigger bone or skull which we think will help a lot in the investigation," said Susant Nanda, Assistant Director of Burla RFSL.

Sambalpur SP Kanwar Vishal Singh said that probe into the case is on and the forensic teams have been roped in to collect more evidence in connection with the case.

As per reports, Jayashree had gone missing on October 13, 2011. Though Jayashree’s family members had lodged a complaint with Town Police Station, no step was allegedly taken by the cops. Later in 2019, Jayashree’s daughter filed a petition with the Director General of Police which reportedly forced the cops to carry out a fresh investigation. Subsequently, police nabbed the prime accused Basant Panda on July 22, 2019 who later confessed to the crime.