Berhampur, Aug. 2: Police today arrested the parents of an 18-year-old girl for murdering her and disposing of her body two weeks ago at Hundata village in Purushottampur.

“It is a case of honour killing,” a police source said.

The police had swung into action after they found the girl’s skeleton and a cellphone without a SIM card from Hundata on July 21.

“We tracked the cellphones international mobile station equipment identity number and the call records. From there, we found the name of the victim,” the police said.

The victim was identified as Tuni Dakua, daughter of Sanyasi Dakua and Satya. Her parents had decided to kill her because they suspected that she had physical relationships with two or three youths of the area. On several occasions, they had chided her, and according to them, she had not paid heed to their advice.

Harihar Pani, sub-divisional police officer, Berhampur Sadar, said the duo had confessed to the crime.

The father, Sanyasi, told them that her behaviour was an insult to the family and so they had decided to kill her.

The police said Sanyasi and his wife asked Tuni to go with them to Berhampur on July 16. They got down at Gate Bazaar and travelled to Chandipadar. Then, they went to Kusumidimira, about 300 metres away from the road point, when Satya asked Sanyasi and Tuni to wait. Sanyasi then allegedly smashed her daughter’s with a boulder and killed her.

The duo then returned to their village. They told their neighbours their daughter had fallen ill in Berhampur and passed away.

Sanyasi, who works as a labourer in Surat, Gujarat, has three daughters and a son. Tuni was the youngest child.