Postmortem In Odisha Quintuple Murder Shows Signs Of Struggle

Bhubaneswar: The postmortem reports of the five members of Alekha Sahu’s family, who were allegedly hacked to death by his younger brother Siba Sahu at Kusupur village in Cuttack district on the intervening night of April 11 and April 12, are out.

“The reports have confirmed the use of sharp weapons in the crime as the victims bore multiple stab injuries,” Cuttack (Rural) Superintendent of Police B Jugal Kishore told the media.

The victims had also tried to fend off the attacker and there were signs of struggle. However, there is no mention of whether they were poisoned or intoxicated before death in the reports, he added.

Police had earlier suspected that Siba might have spiked their food before committing the murder. While locals and in-laws of Alekha were not ready to accept that it was the handiwork of one person, police later confirmed that he was the lone perpetrator of the crime.

The victims – Alekh Sahu (46), his Rashmi Rekha (41), their daughter Smruti Sandhya (19) and sons Smruti Sai (18) and Smruti Saurav (16) – were found in a pool of blood after IIC of Mahanga police station Nihar Ranjan Mohanty, Salepur SDPO Bimal Barik with a scientific team broke open the door in the presence of the local executive magistrate on April 12. The quintuple murder came to light after Siba surrendered at Balichandrapur police station after recording a video message, confessing to the crime.

A long-drawn battle over a patch of land had reportedly led to the ghastly murder.