Keonjhar: Police in Odisha’s Barbil exhumed the skeletal remains of a 21-year-old woman from Siddhamatha Reserve Forest on Sunday, nearly a month after she was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend in a suspected crime of passion.
The victim has been identified as Anita Mahakud, a resident of Dumbi Sahi village under Bhadrasahi panchayat in Keonjhar district. She went missing on May 11 and reportedly left home without her mobile phone. Her family later discovered that the last call on her phone was from her boyfriend.
According to police, the accused, identified as Sahaja Alda (26), initially denied any knowledge of her whereabouts when questioned. Anita’s mother filed a missing person complaint at Barbil police station on May 14 after she remained untraceable. The family later approached the Keonjhar SP, alleging inaction by local police.
The breakthrough came after intensified investigation led to the detention of the accused on Saturday.
During interrogation, he reportedly confessed to the murder and was formally arrested on Sunday. Acting on his confession, police recovered Anita’s skeletal remains from a pit in the dense forest, approximately 5 km from the alleged murder site, in the presence of an executive magistrate and tehsildar Rakesh Kumar Panda, with a forensic team assisting.
Police said the couple had been in a relationship for several years. The accused allegedly grew suspicious after seeing Anita’s social media posts, believing she was involved with another man. On the day of the incident, he reportedly called her to meet near a football field about half a kilometre from the village. He then allegedly attacked her with a sharp knife, stabbing her repeatedly in the neck, causing her death.
According to the confession, the accused initially left the body at the scene, returned later that night, and transported it on his motorcycle to the forest. He buried the body in a pit and discarded her belongings along with the murder weapon in another pit in an attempt to destroy evidence. He also allegedly disposed of his blood-stained clothes near a dam.
Police have seized the motorcycle used in the crime from the accused’s residence. They also recovered Anita’s scarf, slippers, the sharp weapon, and other incriminating materials from the forest. The accused was taken to the crime scene for a recreation of events, where he demonstrated how the murder was carried out.
The accused was produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody. Further investigation is ongoing.
