Rourkela: The rape accused on bail, who allegedly killed the victim and dismembered her body, was caught on camera travelling on a motorcycle with the young woman, whom he allegedly kidnapped on December 7 from Odisha’s Jharsuguda.
It also shed light on involvement of another person in the ghastly murder committed by the accused, Kunu Kisan, to avoid conviction under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. A resident of Lephripada in Sundargarh, he was released from jail on interim bail last year. He was arrested on rape charges on August 27, 2023 and released on bail on December 4, 2023.
Family of the young woman, a native of Sundargarh who was staying with her aunt in Jharsuguda, filed a missing person complaint on December 7.
During the investigation, police screened footage of CCTV cameras and found them together. “CCTV footage showed the girl travelling on a motorcycle with two persons, whose faces were covered as they were wearing helmets,” Jharsuguda SP Parmar Smit Parshottamdas told the PTI.
Police also used artificial intelligence to track the suspect. “Using AI technology, we were able to trace the accused in Sundargarh,” he said.
The photo of the missing girl was fed into Jharsuguda’s Smart City CCTV system, which revealed images of her on a two-wheeler with two men. The system also helped to check police records to narrow down a list of suspects and then zero in on Kisan.
According to the SP, Kisna confessed to having killed the girl by slitting her throat with a knife on National Highway 143 between Rourkela and Deogarh. “He then chopped her body into parts and threw those at Tarkera Nali and Balughat of the Brahmani river,” he said.
The body parts were recovered after hours-long search operation by police and the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) on Wednesday. KIsan was also brought to the riverbank to reconstruct the crime scene.
Kisan and his associate have been arrested and further investigation is underway, the SP added.
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Sources said that the accused initially tried to burn the body by pouring kerosene on it with the help of a juvenile and later chopped the body before disposing of at two places. The 24-year-old had planned the murder of the woman who had accused him of rape down to the last detail.He changed his bike’s number plates and other identifiers such as stickers and wore a helmet throughout.
“Given the sensitivity of the case, we are pursuing a speedy trial and will ensure the accused receives strict punishment,” Inspector General of Police, Western Range, Himanshu Lal told India Today.
