Bhubaneswar, March 29: The city police today recovered the body of Amita Biswal, a 20-year-old girl, from a house in Badagada village in the capital. The body was found with stab injuries.

The police have detained the deceased’s elder sister Ranjita and her husband, Dushmant Sahu in connection with the incident. The knife used in the killing was also seized from their house.

According to the police, the deceased had been staying with her sister and brother-in-law for more than six months.

They said that Ranjita, who suspected Amita and Dushmant of having an illicit relationship, could have planned the murder.

The neighbours said that the family had been staying in a rented house in Badagada village for the past six months.

Sources said Dusmant, who had a fruit shop in Unit IV, had gone out early in the morning when Ranjita and her three-year-old daughter were in the house with Amita.

“Around 10am we saw Dushmant and Ranjita standing outside their house, which was locked from outside. On asking them, Ranjita said that her sister had fled with someone else locking the house from outside,” said Gayatri Mishra, a neighbour.

Finally the house owner was called so that the door could be opened with a duplicate key.

But when the brother of the house owner arrived at the spot he found that Ranjita had the door key in her hand and she was actually pretending of not possesing it.

“Dushmant snatched it from her and opened the door. He found Amita’s blood-soaked body lying on the floor,” said Brajabandhu Narendra, the house owner’s brother.

The local residents then informed the police.

The husband and the wife were taken to the police station. The forensic team later reached the spot for its own investigations.

Police said that the girl had been stabbed several times.

The deceased had sustained knife injuries on her stomach, chest, neck and back.

During interrogation it was found that Amita was murdered around 8am when Dushmant was not at home.

Ranjita, at the time, had left her child in the neighbour’s house.

The neighbours were unaware of the incident.

“Around 8.30am the woman took the child saying she was going to drop her at school. We did not know when was Amita killed.

“Ranjita had been complaining about the illicit relationship between her sister and husband,” said Gayatri, a next-door neighbour.

Dushmant, who usually returns home late, was today back at 10am.

He said his wife had called him home saying Amita had run away with someone.

The couple were not on good terms used to quarrel frequently.

They had returned from their native village in Dhenkanal district recently.