Rourkela, Sept.19: A bank officer was among six persons arrested for having allegedly murdered his wife early last month. He had allegedly hired contract killers to eliminate his wife.
The accused were a deputy manager of a nationalised bank, Kamal Kumar Oram, 50, husband of the deceased Janaki, his sister-in-law Sonia Oram, 45, and two of his relatives - Rita Kerketta, 40, and Deepak Kerketta. The two alleged contract killers - Gulshan Kumar and Irshad Alam, both from Simdega, Jharkhand - were also arrested.
The incident took place on September 8. After the bank officer left for office, the bloodied body of his wife Janaki was found in their residence in the city.
Oram, the prime accused, is alleged to have had affairs with his sister-in-law and Rita and had been helping them financially. His wife had resented his involvement with the two women. She had been staying with her parents in Bargarh and had recently returned to her husband's house after mediation between the two, police said.
The police became suspicion after the examination of the body. "I found one of the earrings of the victim was missing but the other was in place. This led to my suspicion about the involvement of two persons in the killing," said SDPO Zone 1 P.K. Mishra.
Mishra said the interrogation of Kamal led to the arrest of others. He said Kamal and Janaki were not getting along. "Her return became an obstacle for his elder sister-in-law and Rita. They then hatched a plan to eliminate the woman. Deepak of Lanjiberna, who was known to both women, contacted the two contract killers Gulshan and Irshad in Jharkhand."
He said: "The plan was known to Kamal and he paid the first instalment of Rs 1 lakh to the assassins and was to pay another Rs 1 lakh after the murder."
The police also looked into detailed financial transactions of Kamal and found huge amounts of money being withdrawn on different dates.
Two days before the incident, the contract killers made a detailed recce on a bike, which the police have seized.
Mishra said that on the day of the incident, as soon as Kamal left home for office, the hired assassins entered the house and overpowered Janaki.
