Rourkela: A man working as a driver at a residence allegedly murdered a girl of the family he was working for and her batchmate late Sunday night, police said Monday. The gruesome murders took place at Kashipada village under Kutra police station limits in Sundargarh district. Police said that the youth murdered the girl as he was in love with her, but did not get any response from her. The deceased have been identified as Lipsa Kerketa (24) and Pratap Lakra (26).
Both were students of a private MBA college. Police said that the driver identified as Raju was trying to establish a relationship with the girl. However, she was not responding to his advances. On the other hand, Pratap used to come to the girl’s house and spend substantial amount of time there. Raju arrived at Lipsa’s house Sunday night and said he wanted to take her to his residence.
However, the parents of the girl flatly refused. Raju then stated that he wanted to talk alone to Lipsa. Even though the parents of Lipsa did not agree initially, they later relented. Raju then went Lipsa’s room and soon the conversation turned into a heated altercation. Raju tried to strangulate the girl initially and then stabbed her with a knife. When Lipsa’s parents tried to rescue her, he locked them in a room. Pratap tried to save Lipsa, but Raju also stabbed him repeatedly. He fled the scene leaving the two in a pool of blood. Hearing their screams, neighbours arrived and rushed the two to the hospital. However, Lipsa was pronounced dead on arrival while Pratap died en route to RKG