15-Yr-Old Bludgeoned To Death By 2 Friends In Odisha’s Rourkela

Rourkela: Body of a Class IX student, who was bludgeoned to death allegedly by two of his friends following a fight over a pair of earbuds, was recovered near Sarana Chhak in Odisha’s Rourkela on Tuesday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Rudra Narayan Padhi (15) of Balughat Basti under Raghunathpalli police station limits in Sundargarh district. He was a student of Developed Area High School in Civil Township here.

According to sources, the teenagers were on a pleasure trip on their bicycles on Sunday when they picked up a quarrel over sharing an earphone and it soon turned into a physical fight. His friends, all Class IX students from a different school, attacked the victim with stone and fled the scene.

When Rudra did not return home late into the evening, his parents lodged a missing complaint with Raghunathpali police.

While tracking Rudra’s phone, police found that he had spoken to three of his friends on the day he went missing. They were called to the police station and interrogated. Two of them confessed to the murder, while the third was witness to the crime, police said.

Panposh sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Upasana Padhi said they cracked the case after the parents provided clues that their son used to spend time with the two friends.