Two Arrested For Murder Of MBA Student In Ganjam

Berhampur: Two persons have been arrested in connection with the alleged murder of a 24-year-old MBA student, who had been missing from Bhogara villages in Ganjam since August 28.

The arrested have been identified as Pravanjan Tripathy, business partner of the student, and Bansidhar Gouda.

Tripathy was the business partner of the victim, identified as Jitendra Pradhan, while Gouda allegedly assisted him in disposing of the body.

An anonymous letter and guilty conscience of one of the accused helped the police solve the case. Hinting at the murder, the letter revealed the names of the persons allegedly involved in the crime.

Based on the hints, police looked for the body and a motorcycle. While the charred remains of the vehicle was found buried inside Kiriamba forest on September 17, the decomposed body was retrieved from a water body in the same forest the following day.

The police then nabbed the two accused for the crime. During interrogation, Gouda allegedly confessed to have helped Tripathy in disposing of the body. It is also being suspected that it was he who sent the anonymous letter to the police.

Financial dispute could be a reason behind the murder, as the deceased and Tripathy had started a poultry farm in partnership at Bhogara, police sources said.

Jitu was studying in a private college in Bhubaneswar and had invested Rs 2 lakh in the farm. Tripathy used to manage it.

He came to the village on August 26 and was scheduled to return to Bhubaneswar on August 28. He had told his mother that he would return home after collecting the money from Tripathy, but went missing, the sources added.