Accused In Kalahandi Murder Case Found Hanging In Jail, Probe Ordered

Govind Sahu, the prime accused in the kidnapping and murder of a woman teacher in Kalahandi district of Odisha, was on Tuesday found hanging from a tree on the premises of a jail in Bolangir district, police said.

Authorities of Kantabanji sub-jail said Sahu was found hanging from a tree with 'gamcha' (soft cotton towel) and was rushed to the sub-divisional hospital where doctors declared him dead.

Sahu was scheduled to be produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class on Tuesday.

DIG Prisons, Bhubaneswar, Subhakanta Mishra admitted that there were lapses on the part of the jail authorities at Kantabanji and said disciplinary action will be taken against those found guilty.

Bolangir Superintendent of Police Kulaskar Nitin Dagdu was on the way to the prison.

The kidnapping and murder of the 24-year-old woman teacher from Jhari village in Turekela block of Bolangir district had sent shock-waves across the country, with the Opposition demanding the removal of the then minister of state D S Mishra.

Sahu was allegedly a close associate of Mr Mishra, who was later dropped from the Naveen Patnaik cabinet after six months.

The woman teacher was working at a private school in Mahaling in Kalahandi district. Sahu was the managing committee president of the educational institution.

She went missing on October 8 last year and her bones and other body parts were later recovered from a pit on the school premises on October 19.

Sahu was subsequently arrested on the charge of killing the woman teacher and chopping her body into pieces, burning it and dumping into the pit. He had also allegedly torched her bag, mobile phone and other belongings to eliminate evidence.

Police probe revealed that the woman teacher had threatened Sahu of exposing his extra-marital affairs, over which he allegedly strangled her to death inside his car on October 8 last year.

Meanwhile, the state prison authority ordered a probe into the death of Sahu.

Congress's Kantabanji MLA Santosh Singh Saluja demanded a CBI probe into the incident. Another Congress MLA, Suresh Routray, demanded a judicial probe.

Odisha BJP Mahila Morcha president Sruti Patnaik alleged that Sahu was "murdered as his statement in the court could have exposed some ruling BJD leaders".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)