A 40-year-old man was allegedly murdered and decapitated in Bagda village under Devgaon police station area in Odisha’s Bolangir district.
Police have arrested 5 people in this case. The deceased has been identified as Santosh Kharsel, a resident of Tebdamunda village under Tusura police station area of Bolangir district. Police claim that the murder was carried out to get the wife back.
Bolangir’s SP G. According to Abhilash, the main accused Shatrughan Sahu had allegedly called Santosh to his house on August 18 on the pretext of having food.
Police suspect that after Santosh fell asleep, Sahu and some of his associates attacked and murdered him. After which his head was separated from the body. Investigators suspect that this crime may be related to human sacrifice and occult practices.
After the murder, the accused took Santosh’s body outside the village and threw it in a pond. Whereas his severed head was kept hidden in the puja room of Sahu’s house.
On Thursday, local people saw a headless body near the pond and informed the police. After which Devgaon police reached the spot and started investigation.
During investigation, the police came to know that Santosh was last seen with Shatrughan Sahu. Based on this information, a police team reached Sahu’s house. At that time Sahu was reportedly meditating inside the house.
During initial interrogation, he told the police that Santosh was murdered after a dispute over drinking alcohol. However, upon further interrogation he reportedly revealed that Santosh’s severed head was hidden in the puja room.
After this the accused took the police to the place where the head was pressed. Police excavated the site and recovered Santosh’s severed head. The blood-stained sharp weapon used in the crime has also been seized.
Police have arrested 5 people including the main accused Shatrughan Sahu in the murder case. Sahu’s mother, brother and sister-in-law have also been detained for questioning as investigators try to ascertain the full details of the incident and whether other people were also involved.
According to investigation, Sahu’s wife was living separately from him along with her son and daughter for the last 10 years. The police suspect that the family might have stayed away from him because of his involvement in black magic.
Police are now investigating whether Sahu had planned the alleged human sacrifice alone or had taken help from someone else.
SP Abhilash said that the main accused has confessed to his crime during interrogation. The police have also recovered the severed head of the victim from the house of the accused and have carried out a re-construction of the sequence of events as part of the investigation.