Sambalpur/ Rengali: Two elderly persons were murdered in their sleep by robbers at the house of a paramilitary force jawan at Bhoimunda village, 10 km from Sasan police station in Sambalpur district late Friday night.
The deceased were identified as Joshio Soren (70) and his sister-in-law Ripika Soren (65).
The duo was engaged by a BSF jawan Elio Soren to guard his house. The murderers later decamped with Rs 40,000 cash and gold jewellery from Soren’s house. Soren is working with the 105th Battalion in Punjab.
Soren had asked the duo to take care of his house when he had met them during a visit to Gadposh village to attend a wedding.
News of the double murder spread shockwaves in the area.
On being informed by the village watchman, Sadar sub-divisional police officer Brahmananda Gagarin Mohanty accompanied by Sasan police inspector in-charge Sarangdhar Panigrahi and police officials rushed to the spot and started an investigation. The bodies were found lying in a pool of blood.
Forensic experts and sniffer dogs from Jharsuguda were pressed into service. The sniffer dogs scoured the area but were unable to obtain any leads.
A four-member team of forensic experts from Sambalpur collected broken pieces of a wooden plank, blood samples and fingerprints for examination.
A case was registered over a complaint lodged by the BSF jawan at Sasan police station and the bodies were later sent for post-mortem. Tension briefly prevailed among the villagers as police failed to get any leads on the killers.
Sources said Soren had come on leave to his village. He along with his family had gone to attend the wedding of a relative at Gadposh village while engaging Joshio and his sister-in-law Ripika to keep a watch on his house during their absence.
The duo was sleeping inside the house at night when the miscreants broke in through a window and stole Rs 40,000 cash and two gold earrings by breaking open the safe.
Meanwhile, Joshio and Ripika woke up on hearing the sound of the safe being broken and began shouting for help after encountering the intruders. The miscreants immediately assaulted them with sharp-edged weapons and wooden planks resulting in their deaths. PNN