Govind Sahu, the prime accused in a case related to the kidnapping and murder of a woman teacher in the Kalahandi district of Odisha, was found hanging from a tree on the premises of a jail in Bolangir district on Tuesday. Authorities of Kantabanji sub-jail said Sahu was found hanging from a tree with a 'gamcha' (soft cotton towel) and was rushed to the sub-divisional hospital where doctors declared him dead.
Sahu was to be produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate on Tuesday. However 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 who are found guilty.
The abduction and murder of the 24-year-old woman teacher from Odisha's Jhari village 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 Mishra, who was later dropped from the Naveen Patnaik cabinet after six months.
Sahu was also the managing committee president of the educational institution where the victim worked. 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 it 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. Odisha's state prison authority as well as many other politicians have ordered a probe into the death of Sahu.
(With PTI inputs)
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