In Odisha student murder case, boyfriend claims he found her unconscious in hotel room

Police on Friday said that theyhave arrested the boyfriend of the 21-year-old student, whosebody was found on a roadside in Odishas Jajpur district.During interrogation, the accused told the police thathe spent a night with the woman at a hotel in Bhubaneswar andwhen he woke, she was lying unconscious, officials said.Panicked over the situation, he called a friend andthey dumped the body on a roadside, the accused told thepolice, as per officials.We are waiting for the post-mortem report and otherrevelations by the accused to come to a conclusion in themurder case.

Police on Friday said that theyhave arrested the boyfriend of the 21-year-old student, whosebody was found on a roadside in Odisha's Jajpur district.

During interrogation, the accused told the police thathe spent a night with the woman at a hotel in Bhubaneswar andwhen he woke, she was lying unconscious, officials said.

Panicked over the situation, he called a friend andthey ''dumped'' the body on a roadside, the accused told thepolice, as per officials.

''We are waiting for the post-mortem report and otherrevelations by the accused to come to a conclusion in themurder case. We are yet to know the exact reason behind themurder,'' said Jajpur's Superintendent of Police Rahul PR.

The body of the woman, a student of a university inBhubaneswar, was found near Mulapala Chhak in Jajpur's Kuakhiapolice station area on Wednesday.

She was a native of Mayurbhanj and told her family onTuesday that she was returning home from Bhubaneswar,following which her body was found in Jajpur, police said.

Police had earlier said that two persons were seen onCCTV footage carrying the body on a red scooter and ''dumping''it.

The boyfriend was detained on Thursday night after thewoman's father alleged that he may be involved in theincident.

The accused has confessed that he had a relationshipwith the woman, police said.

He also told police that she had boarded a bus forJashipur in Mayurbhanj from Jaydev Vihar in Bhubaneswar onTuesday morning, they said.

However, she got down at Vani Vihar Square in thestate capital and walked to Rupali Square where the accusedwas waiting for her on a scooter, they added.

After that, they checked into a hotel with him andspent the night there.

The boyfriend said that when he woke up, he found thewoman unconscious, and panicked, he dialled a friend whoimmediately reached the hotel, according to police.

Both of them took her on their two-wheeler in anunconscious condition and midway when they realised that shehad died, they dumped the body, police said.

Meanwhile, Odisha State Commission for Womenchairperson Minati Behera visited the Jajpur district toinquire into the death case.

''I have discussed the matter with the district SP andcollector. Police are carrying out the investigation promptlyand the district administration is also actively doing theneedful,'' she said.