Jagannathprasad: Buguda police here Wednesday recovered the decomposed body of a minor pregnant girl from an abandoned dry well near Dhobatala mango orchard at Barakolia village under Jhadabhumi panchayat and Jagannathprasad police limits in Ganjam district.
The deceased was identified as Barsa Samal, younger daughter of Gopal Samal of Mangarajpur village. Sources said Santosh Khandei of Barakolia village had married the elder daughter of Gopal Samal. However, Santosh was spending most of his time at his in-laws’ house leaving behind his wife at his house. In the meantime, Santosh got attracted to his minor sister-in-law Barsa and established a physical relationship with her resulting in pregnancy. When the family members came to know about this, they confronted Santosh. Santosh confessed his mistakes and agreed to keep both Barsa and her sister as wives he took her along to his village Barakolia August 17.
Two days later, when Gopal called Santosh to know the whereabouts of Barsa, Santosh said that they were at one of his friend’s houses and would return to the village after two days. When Santosh eventually stopped taking calls from Gopal, he lodged a kidnapping case against Santosh at Buguda police station August 20.
Acting on the complaint, Buguda police took Santosh into custody Monday night and started an interrogation. Initially, Santosh denied any wrongdoing on his part. However, he later confessed to having murdered Barsa. He had kept her body hidden inside an abandoned well near Dhobatala mango orchard on the outskirts of his village. A police team reached the spot and recovered the decomposed body from the well with the help of fire brigade personnel.