The mystery surrounding the disappearance of 25-year-old traffic constable Subhamitra Sahoo has been solved with the arrest of her husband, who has confessed to murdering her.

Her body was recovered from a forest near Ghatagoan in Keonjhar district.

Subhamitra went missing on September 6 while returning from duty. A missing complaint lodged by her mother the next day triggered a police search.

Commissioner of police S. Dev Datta Singh said Deepak Rout, who married Subhamitra in July 2024 after losing his first wife in a road accident, is the prime accused. He had earlier claimed ₹1 crore in insurance after his first wife’s death, though suspicions of foul play could not be proved.

Police now suspect he plotted a similar plan after marrying Subhamitra.

Deepak, also a policeconstable, later admitted to strangling her inside a car in Bhubaneswar before driving to Keonjhar to dispose of the body. The car has been seized.

“Deepak had taken ₹10 lakh from her. A chat message suggests he may have returned the money. This angle is being probed to ascertain if a dispute over money led to the murder,” the police said.