Cuttack: Baranga Police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked the murder of a 75-year-old woman, who was found dead lying in a pool of blood inside her asbestos house at Ananda Bazar in Odisha’s Cuttack district last week.
The accused has been identified as Jamuna Rout of Jhinkria village under Nandankanan police limits. Stolen utensils and other items, the bicycle used in the crime, clothes worn by the accused on the day of the incident, and a mobile phone belonging to the victim have been seized from him.
On May 21, Bibhuti Bhusan Behera went to Ananda Bazar where his mother, Uttama Behera aka Basanti, was residing alone when he was unable to contact her over phone. He peeped through the window and found her lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood.
Suspecting that his mother might have been hacked to death, he lodged a police complaint.
Following which, the cyber cell of Cuttack UPD Initiated a technical analysis to identify the culprits involved in the crime. A special team was formed under the supervision of the Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack. A blood-stained spade was seized from the spot. The investigating team collected CCTV footage from the vicinity, which then helped it to trace the suspect.
Preliminary Investigation revealed that robbery was the motive behind the murder. “During the course of investigation, it was established that the accused had been observing the movements in and around the residence of the deceased woman. Considering her as an easy target, the accused planned to break into her house and steal valuables. He attacked her with a spade to prevent her from raising an alarm,” a police release said.