Rourkela: Police claimed to have solved the mystery surrounding the murder of a supervisor of a coal washing unit in Sundargarh following the arrest of the alleged killer from Belpahar in neighbouring Jharsuguda district.

The cops arrested Bidyadhara Mohapatra alias Bidya, 45, on charges of killing Kuldeep Mallick, 52, over a fortnight after the killing took place on July 11.

The police tracked Bidya after learning that he had an altercation with Mallick on the day of his murder.

Bidya, in a fit of rage, hit Mallick on his head with a spanner, killing him on spot. There were no witnesses to the incident. When Bidya found that the blow had killed Mallick, he called one of the drivers, Sanjay, to drop his supervisor at home as he was not well. Sanjay did not suspect anything and brought the company jeep.

However, instead of going to his house, Bidya asked Sanjay to drive on to Laikera Jungle Road. He asked him to stop the vehicle at a desolate stretch where he narrated the incident to Sanjay and dumped the body. When Sanjay tried to escape, Bidya threatened him with dire consequences. They returned and Bidya dumped his phone at another place.

"The villagers informed us about a body lying in the forest and we seized it," said inspector in charge of Hemgiri police station Sradhanjali Subudhi.

The police later learnt that Sanjay had taken the vehicle on requisition on the day of the murder. "We interrogated him, but he did not tell us anything. However, he finally broke down and told us everything. We then began a search for Bidya, who was missing ever since the murder and his mobile was switched off. We kept a tab on his mobile phone. On Friday, we learnt that he was trying to flee from Belpahar station by a train. But we reached the spot and caught him," he said.

Subudhi said Bidya has confessed to his crime and Sanjay's confession matched his.