Bhubaneswar: Chandaka police on Friday arrested the main accused in the alleged murder of a woman, who was brutally stabbed to death at Gothapatna market on Bhubaneswar outskirts on November 6.
The arrested has been identified as Mithun Jena (34) of Gangapatna.
The deceased, Sasmita Behera (35) from Krishnapuri Colony, along with husband ran a tiffin stall near the Revenue Officers Training Institute at Gothapatna. The accused allegedly stabbed her on her on her stomach and back around 8.25 pm when her husband had gone to fetch water. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to her injuries early next morning.
On basis of a complaint lodged by Bipin Behera, brother of the deceased, police began an investigation, which revealed that Mithun had visited the stall to buy some ghuguni on November 5 morning and held a grudge against Sasmita as he had refused to pack any for him. He then purchased a a knife from the shop of one Subash Sahu on November 6 evening and asked his friends to watch a sensational news on TV at 9 pm. He then went to the spot and waited for the customers to leave. He attacked her with the knife when her husband left the stall to fetch water from a nearby tap. He fled the spot by taking lift from a passerby and threw the knife on the way near a transformer.
“The weapon of offence has been seized and the accused is being forwarded today,” a police release said.
Locals had earlier suspected the murder to be the fallout of some business rivalry as the tiffin stall of the couple was quite popular and doing good business.
