Headless body found on Bhubaneswar outskirts identified; 2 arrested

The headless body of a woman found on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on February 4 was identified on Thursday and two persons were arrested in connection with her murder, police said.

The deceased was a 28-year-old woman staying at a slum in Mancheswar police station area in the Odisha capital. She hailed from Ganjam district. A marital dispute could be the reason for her killing, Commissioner of Police S Sarangi said.

The severed head was found two km from the place where her body was spotted. It was thrown into a ditch dug to check the movement of elephants, he said.

After coming to Bhubaneswar from Ganjam, the woman was in a live-in relationship with a man at the slum. Later, she got married to another person in a slum in Chakeisiani area.

However, a few days after her marriage in December last year, she returned to her live-in partner's residence but he strangled her to death over the marital dispute, Sarangi said.

The man had called up one of his friends to dump the body beside the Bharatpur-Chandaka Road. The duo was arrested in Daspalla area in Nayagarh district, he added.