Kendrapara: Accused of murdering his wife seven years ago, a resident of Kendrapara district was finally proved innocent after police arrested his ‘dead’ wife and her lover from Pipili in Puri district.
The man, Abhaya Sutar of Chaulia village in Patkura, was charged with the murder of his wife, Itishree Moharana. He had even spent a month in jail for the alleged crime.
According to reports, Abhaya had married Itishree Moharana on February 7, 2013.
However, after two months of marriage, Itishree went missing from his house. Abhaya then launched a search for his wife, but was unable to trace her.
He later lodged a missing complaint with Patkura police on April 20, 2013. On May 14 the same year, Itishree’s father Prahallad Moharana lodged an FIR against Abhaya, accusing him of torturing his daughter for dowry.
He alleged that Abhay had killed Itishree and dumped her body somewhere.
Based on the complaint, police arrested Abhaya. After languishing in jail for around a month, he was released on bail.
Following his release, Abhaya decided to devote all his time to trace Itishree and prove his innocence. Suspecting that his wife may have eloped with someone, he visited many places in search of her.
Finally, he tracked Itishree at Pipili where she was living with her lover, Rajiv Lochan Moharana. Abhaya informed police, who detained Itishree and Rajiv.
Both were produced in a Kendrapara court on Monday where their statements were recorded.
In her statement, Itishree said she had an affair with Rajiv before her marriage. However, her parents were against their relationship and forced her to marry Abhaya. After two months of marriage, she fled her in-laws’ house in the night and eloped with Rajiv. Both fled to Gujarat and stayed there for seven years. Itishree also gave birth to a son and a daughter.
Recently, they returned to Odisha and settled down at Pipili. Patkura IIC Sujit Pradhan said Rajiv drives an auto-rickshaw in Bhubaneswar.
Abhaya said, “When police failed to locate Itishree, I decided to take matters into my own hands. For these seven years, I have visited many places to track her down. Now that I have proved my innocence, I am a satisfied man.”
