Murdered girl over soap fight, accused tells Odisha police

SAMBALPUR: While mystery shrouds the murder of a girl, whose naked body was recovered from Sahebi village within Rairakhol police limits, primary probe reveals she must have been killed after a sudden provocation over sharing of soap with the accused.

Additional superintendent of police, Haresh Chandra Pandey said, “The accused, Hari Behera (28) has already confessed to the murder and has given his account of the incident. Although the villagers and family have alleged rape, it has not been ascertained yet. More details can be obtained once the postmortem report is received.

So far, the incident appears to have occurred out of sudden provocation by the victim following a brief altercation with the accused. Behera killed the victim with his bare hands without any weapons.”

As per the account given by Behera, on the day of the incident (August 30), he was in an inebriated state and had gone to the village pond to clean up. While cleaning himself, he took the soap of the victim, without her permission and this led to an argument between the two. Subsequently, as the argument intensified, the victim slapped Behera and in retaliation, he thrashed her to death and fled the spot.