Bhubaneswar: The police have arrested three persons, including the prime accused, in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 39-year-old married woman in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.

The cops have arrested the deceased woman’s male friend and prime accused Jitendra Mohanta (35) of Garudabasa village and two others, identified as Karmu Patra and Ashutosh Baral, in connection with the case.

Patra was working as the manager of a lodge at Baripada while Baral was an employee.

The woman, a resident of Betnoti area in Mayurbhanj, had left home to buy sari and other dress materials from a nearby market Friday morning.  

However, she did not return home till the evening. She even did not respond to phone calls from her family members.

Suspecting something unpleasant, the woman’s relatives launched a search to trace her. Around the midnight, the woman’s male friend informed her family members that she was admitted to the Mayurbhanj District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in a critical condition and she died while being treated at the health facility.  

On being informed, Betnoti police reached the hospital Saturday morning and sent the body for postmortem before launching a probe into the incident.

The woman’s husband lodged a complaint with the police and alleged that she was raped and killed by her male friend.

On the basis of the complaint, the police registered a case and detained the woman’s male friend for interrogation. 

During investigation, the cops came to know that the woman and her male friend had checked into a lodge at Baripada town on June 26 (Friday). The woman’s male friend had raped her and inserted a liquor bottle into her private parts, police said.

“The woman sustained critical injuries in her private parts and was rushed to the DHH by her male friend. However, she succumbed due to excess bleeding. The manager and an employee of the lodge had assisted the woman’s male friend to carry her to the DHH,” they added.