Rourkela: A day after a seven-month pregnant woman was shot at her home in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, Tikayatpali police on Friday detained four persons, including her husband Deben Behera and a cop, for questioning.
Samyamayee Behera (33) was shot dead during a suspected loot attempt at her home in Jhridapali village under Bonai sub-division on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.
Deben, a local Panchayat Extension Officer (PEO), had earlier told police that two unidentified persons knocked on their door around 12.50 am and barged into the house once his wife opened the door. One of the intruders allegedly snatched her mangalsutra and the other fired at her when screamed for help, killing her on the spot.
Source, however, said police suspect that it was a pre-planned murder hatched by Deben along with his associates. The timelines of the crime narrated by him, his mother and aunt lacked coherence and an immediate neighbour also claimed that he heard the gunshot at around 12.20 am. Samyamayee was declared death on arrival at a hospital in Bonia at 1.40 am though it is just a 20-minute drive from their house. It is being alleged that Behera waited for a driver to take his wife to hospital when he himself knew how to drive.
Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani also mentioned about discrepancies in the statements of the woman’s family members, who were present in the house at the time of the incident. Investigation is underway to piece together events leading to her death, he added.
Incidentally, Samyamayee is the cousin of Chhendipada MLA Agasti Behera, who found it unusual for a seven-month pregnant woman to answer a door call past midnight when the husband was home.
