BHUBANESWAR: Hours after Gobinda Sahu, the prime accused in last year’s sensational Mamita Meher murder case allegedly died by suicide inside the Kantabanji sub-jail in Balangir district on Tuesday, Odisha DGP Sunil Bansal entrusted the state Crime Branch to probe the circumstances leading to the UTP’s unnatural death.
"The Crime Branch will find out the nature of Sahu’s death and the motive," DGP Bansal said. Sources said the prisons directorate too has directed a DIG to conduct an internal inquiry into the UTP’s death and recommend disciplinary action against the jail staff for alleged negligence.
The murder case of Mamita, a school teacher, had triggered massive political and public outcry in Odisha last year. Mamita, who belonged to Balangir district, was posted as a teacher in a private school at Mahaling under Kegaon police area in Kalahandi district. Sahu was president of the school.
Sahu allegedly killed her and buried her inside his school campus on October 8, 2021 as she had allegedly threatened to expose his extramarital affairs with women.
Sahu, who was arrested October 19, 2021, had been lodged in the judicial custody at Kantabanji sub-jail. He was found hanging from a tree branch on the jail premises early Tuesday morning. Police said he died by suicide, though the circumstances that led to his death appeared mysterious. Sahu was scheduled to be produced in court as part of the trial on Tuesday. The opposition BJP and Congress have been sensing foul in his death.
Sahu’s alleged suicide in the judicial custody prompted the opposition BJP and Congress to launch a scathing attack on the government as name of BJD MLA and former minister Dibya Shankar Mishra was doing the rounds in the Mamita murder case. Amid the public outrage and ruckus in the assembly in October last year, the government had announced a high court-monitored investigation into Mamita murder case.
"We strongly suspect he might have been murdered inside the jail as his statement in court would have landed the former BJD minister in trouble,” Congress MLA (Kantabanji) Santosh Singh Saluja said.
It must be noted that Sahu had allegedly strangulated Mamita to death inside his car along a busy road in broad daylight on October 8 last year. Sahu kept her body inside the car for over 7 hours before burning her in a pit inside his school playground the same evening.
On the fateful day, Sahu took Meher to a temple at Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district in his car. He insisted that she vow before the deities that she would not disclose about his extramarital affair before anyone. However, she turned down his plea and refused to take any such pledge in the temple.
"After returning from the temple, Meher sat in the rear seat. They were indulged in a serious altercation inside the car. Around 10.45 am, Sahu parked the car on the side of a road having high movement of traffic. He went to the rear seat and strangled her. The passers-by could not get a whiff of Sahu’s brazen act,” a police officer in Balangir said. Police said Meher, whose weight was only around 45 kg, was not able to resist nor shout as Sahu had completely overpowered her.
Sahu reached his village in the Mahaling area with the body in the car and parked the vehicle in a distance at the backyard of his home. Neither his wife nor his three daughters could know about his act. Sahu, who had completed LLB, then allegedly planned to destroy the body and all evidence.
Sahu gave a task to Radheshyam Chandi (29), his close aide, to buy tyres and wooden plans for his personal work. A 7-ft deep pit was dug in the playground of his school. Around 7 pm, he brought Meher’s body to the playground, dumped her inside the pit and lit the tyres along with the wooden planks to burn the body.
"Sahu told us that he burnt her alone in the pit. His claim is being verified. The charred remains of the body and some bones that were exhumed on October 19, 2021 have been sent for DNA test,” the police officer said.
