Dhenkanal: Police arrested the prime accused in jeweller Mantu Patra murder case at Meena Bazaar here.
The accused was identified as Sanjay Kumar (31), a jawan in the Indian Army posted at Dinjan in Dibrugarh district of Assam and son of Harpal Singh of Telipura village under Boria police limits in Haryana.
He was in a relationship with the slain jeweller’s wife Aruna Patra (32), the mastermind in the case and now in judicial custody, after coming in contact with her through social networking website Facebook, said SP Santosh Kumar Nayak at a press meet Saturday.
Mantu’s wife used to develop friendship with many youths through Facebook by identifying herself as an unmarried woman under various names such as Sona Bhattacharya, Sonu, Anita and Barsha. She used to claim that her two sons were those of her brother’s. She also claimed that Mantu was her relative, who had ‘raped’ her several times.
Sanjay was childless though married for two years. During a visit to Dhenkanal to meet Aruna, he expressed his frustration for being childless.
Aruna told Sanjay that she is ready to become his second wife and agreed to talk to his wife on this issue. She made a phone call to Sanjay’s wife and talked to her about her plan leading to a dispute between the couple. Later, Sanjay’s wife left him and went to stay at her parental home.
Sanjay visited Dhenkanal and stayed at a hotel on Dakhinakali Road August 28. During his stay, Aruna hatched a plan with Sanjay to get rid of Mantu forever. The duo tried to eliminate Mantu thrice before the murder September 3.
On the fateful day, the two had a talk over phone while Sanjay purchased a billhook from a shop at Baji Chowk September 3. Mantu returned home for lunch and lost his sense as Aruna had added sedatives to his food.
Aruna then called Sanjay over phone and the duo hacked Mantu to death with the billhook. Sanjay then fled through their backdoor and dumped the billhook in a pond on Jagannath Road and washed himself.
Later, he cleared the hotel bill and fled from Dhenkanal to his native place. He joined his regiment after two months of holiday. Police after tracking Sanjay’s Facebook account and his call details with Aruna contacted the Colonel of the regiment and arrested him.
PNN