Kataka: A 15-year-old boy was found dead with multiple stab injuries on the Mahanadi riverbank near Bali Yatra ground in Odisha’s Kataka on Sunday, sending shockwaves through the city during the ongoing Durga Puja festivities.
The victim has been identified as Sumanta Sahu, a resident of the Raja Bagicha area and a student at Saraswati Shishu Mandir.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the murder was a planned, collective attack involving multiple miscreants. Police suspect the teenager was lured or brought to the isolated riverbank under a pretext before being ambushed. The perpetrators inflicted severe stab wounds on the victim, specifically targeting vulnerable areas near his cervical and shoulder regions. Bloodstains were found across a distance of nearly 100 metres alongside items such as a slipper, indicating a desperate and violent struggle before he succumbed to his injuries.
On being informed, Cantonment police station IIC, the local ACP, and members of Cuttack’s Special Squad rushed to the spot near the DCP office to launch an investigation. A forensic and scientific team accompanied them to collect blood samples, forensic evidence, and other materials to reconstruct the sequence of events. The victim’s body was recovered from the scene and sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.
While the boy’s identity has been confirmed, the exact motive behind the murder and the identities of the culprits remain unestablished. Police are currently pursuing leads to determine who lured him to the location and whether personal enmity played a role in the crime.
The gruesome incident has raised heightened security concerns across Kataka, particularly as it occurred despite extensive security arrangements and the deployment of around 60 platoons of police force across the city for the Dussehra celebrations.