Missing Bhubaneswar traffic constable’s decomposed body recovered

Keonjhar: Commissionerate Police with the help of Keonjhar Police today recovered missing Bhubaneswar traffic police constable Subhamitra Sahu’s decomposed body buried in Ghatagaon, around 170 kms away from the State Capital City.

Police recovered Subhamitra’s body after digging the soil with the help of a JCB machine in the presence of hundreds of locals and scientific team. The Commissionerate Police reached the spot after getting information from Deepak Rout, the arrested accused, who is also posted as clerk at the Twin City Police Commissioner’s Office.

Amid tight security police took Rout to the spot and conducted a scene recreation before digging out Subhamitra’s decomposed body around 12 days after her disappearance.

As informed by Police Commissioner S. Dev Datta Singh, Deepak himself killed Shubhamitra by strangulating her and later took the body in a car and buried it in a forested stretch near Ghatagaon. However, it is not yet known whether he was helped by anyone else while disposing the body, Singh informed.

Speaking about the motive behind the murder, the Police Commissioner said that Rout had taken an insurance policy in Shubhamitra’s name as he had married her secretly in a court and it is assumed that he killed her to claim the policy benefits, and recover around Rs 20 lakh he had given to her before their marriage.

Shubhamitra, a native of Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, was posted as a traffic police constable in Bhubaneswar but went missing on September 6.

Commissionerate Police initiated an investigation based on the complaint of Shubhamitra’s family members. After not getting any clue of her, police also had pasted her posters at different locations and announced to reward Rs 25,000 to the informer.

However, in course of probe Police grew suspicion on Deepak Rout and interrogated him. During the interrogation, he confessed to have murder her near the Raj Bhawan in Bhubaneswar and buried the body in a forest in Ghatagaon of Keonjhar district with the aim to destroy evidences of the crime.

Police also came to know that Shubhamitra and Deepak had married in 2024 before a court but were living separately to hide their marital status from the family members. However, Shubhamitra was reportedly forcing him to make their marriage public and solemnize it in the presence of their respective family members.

On the fateful day, Deepak asked Shubhamitra to go with him on a trip to Ghatagaon Tarini temple in Keonjhar district while she was returning home after completing her duty in the Suryanagar area of Bhubaneswar. However, as per his planned he strangulated her to death near the Raj Bhawan and later carried the body all the way to Keonjhar district and buried it in a forested stretch near Ghatagaon.

The police investigation also revealed that the accused had got over Rs 1 crore insurance money following the death of his first wife in an accident. With this, it is also being suspected that police will try to ascertain whether it was an accidental accident or planned by Rout.