Sambalpur: Police on Thursday arrested son and grandson of the 98-year-old woman, who was found dead along with her elderly daughter in their two-story residence at Hatapada in Odisha’s Sambalpur late on Tuesday under mysterious circumstances.
According to police sources, the duo strangulated the women to death and then set them ablaze to pass it off as a case of fire mishap. The accused have been identified as Jagannath Dixit, son and brother of deceased, and his son Sanket Dixit.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the two died of suffocation which means they were strangled to death before being set on fire. We are waiting for the postmortem reports. The father-son duo was first questioned and then arrested. It was pre-planned murder for property,” informed ASP Ajay Mishra.
Police are likely to take the father-son duo to the spot crime scene creation later in the day, the sources added.
Snehalata along with her daughter Sairendri Dixit, a retired primary school teacher, resided on the first floor of the house while his son stayed on the ground floor. The neighbours spotted smoke emanating from the upper floor of the house around 10.30 pm on Tuesday. While Sairendri’s partially burnt body was found in the kitchen, her bed-ridden mother was found dead in another room in the house without any burn injuries. The burners of the stove were on when police reached the spot.
Indrani Purohit, younger daughter of Snehalata, has accused her brother and his family of murder for property.
