Lover arrested two months after woman’s body found near Daya river

Bhubaneswar, April 10: Nearly two months after a woman’s body was recovered near the Daya river in Bhubaneswar, police arrested her alleged lover on Thursday for her murder. The accused, Chandan Parida of Kujang in Jagatsinghpur district, was employed as a security guard at a hotel on Cuttack Road.

The case came to light on January 28, when locals spotted a decomposed female body near the riverbank. A postmortem report confirmed death by asphyxia due to neck compression. Investigating the incident, police connected the body to a missing complaint lodged by Banita Digal of Kandhamal. She had reported her sister Sneha Behera, also known as Aparna (30), missing since January 10. Sneha was working in Baramunda, Bhubaneswar.

Further investigation and analysis of phone and location data confirmed that Sneha and Chandan had visited Dhauli Stupa on the day of the incident. An argument later erupted at Dhauli Chhak, as Chandan suspected Sneha of infidelity. In a fit of rage, he allegedly slapped her, then strangled her with her dupatta near Basuaghai village.

Police also uncovered a misleading clue—Mitu Parida of Puri had planted a wallet at the scene to falsely implicate Ramesh Sahu, who was allegedly having an affair with Mitu’s wife. Both the killer and the conspirator have now been arrested.