Minor Daughter’s Murder In Odisha’s Keonjhar: Crime Branch Arrests Father From Maharashtra

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Crime Branch has solved a 10-year-old murder case of a minor girl by apprehending the accused from Maharashtra.

According to a release of the Crime Branch, the accused, Prasant Sahani was arrested from Murbad in Thane district of Maharashtra. Prasant’s wife Pooja Sahani of Tampua in Keonjhar district had filed complaint on August 20, 2013, accusing her husband of kidnapping and murdering their 3-year-old daughter.

In the course of investigation into the complaint, the police found that after their marriage in 2010, both the husband and wife had shifted to Thane where Prasant was working as a fireman in a private factory. During their stay, Prasant had serious matrimonial discord with his wife. His wife delivered a girl child in 2011.

On August 18, 2013, there was an altercation between Prasant and his wife in their village at Fakirpada of Keonjhar district. In a fit of rage, Prasant took his daughter on his bicycle to river Baitarani and threw her into the river.

In order to avoid police arrest, he moved to different locations frequently and also changed his attire. He also used to change his mobile handset and numbers.

Initially the case was investigated by Anandapur police station of Keonjhar district. Subsequently, Crime Branch took charge of the investigation in 2014. A team of Crime Branch conducted raids at different places including Bilaspur, Raipur, Pune, Koregaon Bhima, Sikrapur, Ranjangaon but the accused could not be traced.

However, the team continued to track the accused. On getting reliable information about the location of Prasant at Murbad in Thane district of Maharashtra, a team from the CID CB went there on June 28 this year and apprehended him.

Prasant was brought to Cuttack and after sustained interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime. He was arrested on Friday evening and will be produced in the court of SDJM at Anandapur on Sunday, the release stated.