Odisha: Couple arrested for allegedly killing, chopping body of 21-year-old woman

Aditya Sen, Umerkote sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), said the couple were arrested following a complaint from the deceased woman’s parents and after the dismembered body was recovered by the police on Saturday afternoon

Published on: Nov 26, 2023, 16:02:08 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Odisha police on Saturday arrested a couple for allegedly killing a 21-year-old woman and later chopping her body. Police said that they recovered the dismembered body parts, chopped into 30 pieces, from a forest near Murumdihi village under Gona panchayat in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district.

Aditya Sen, Umerkote sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), said the couple were arrested following a complaint from the deceased woman’s parents and after the dismembered body was recovered by the police on Saturday afternoon.

The deceased was identified as Tilabati Gond of Baghbeda village under Raighar block, said police, adding that she had been missing since Wednesday evening, following which her parents lodged a complaint at the local police station on Thursday.

“The deceased woman’s father identified the body from her face,” said the SDPO.

The accused have been identified as Chandra Rout (27) and his wife from Muramdihi village.

The SDPO said police picked up Rout and his wife after the complaint. The couple were interrogated, and they confessed to having killed the woman and chopped the body.

Police said for the past two years Gond was in love with Rout, a married man. On Wednesday evening, she left for Rout’s house and insisted he marry her. “An altercation began between Rout and the woman. Soon Rout’s wife joined, and the couple started thrashing her. As the woman collapsed and died, the couple took the body to Murrumdihi village forest and chopped it using a meat cleaver before packing the same in a styrofoam container. They then buried it under the soil. They also burnt her clothes,” said the SDPO.

On Saturday morning, a young man from Murumdihi village saw blood at the base of a tamarind tree where the woman was chopped and informed the villagers. Later, the villagers went to the spot and informed the local police, who exhumed the body parts, said Sen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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