On Sunday police said that one of the women, aged 21, had gone missing from Odisha’s Keonjhar district nearly one month ago, which was discovered by police after her boyfriend admitted to dropping her dead in the woods.
Investigators say the woman left home on May 11 without a cell phone. Her family subsequently looked through her cell phone and found the last call logged was from 26-year-old Sahaja Alda (her boyfriend), whom she said she was in a relationship with.
Though she refused to accept any part in the case, Alda attracted police interest following the woman’s family, who repeatedly asked that something be done, and filed a formal complaint in respect to the woman’s absence. The family had also taken to a higher level of police officials, stating poor progress on the investigation.
Later, at the police substation, Alda admitted she had committed the crime after questioning, police said. As investigators suspect the woman was having an affair with another man, he is said to have murdered her. Afterwards, a forest part was brought to the crime scene, and the corpse was dug up in front of a magistrate by the police and forensic teams.
After the slaying, Alda allegedly carried the dead body on his motorcycle, dug a grave in the remote woods and tossed trash such as blood-stained clothes and the murder weapon to the ground. As part of the investigation, police have recovered the victim’s motorcycle, sharp object and other personal effects.