The deceased, Alakananda Mishra

Cuttack, Aug. 28: Police arrested the principal of a school here with four others for allegedly killing a 37-year-old lady teacher and disposing of her body at Chauliaganj.

Apart from school principal Paresh Mohapatra, 45, the other accused were identified as Pranabas Ray, 40, J. Kameswar Rao, 37, Srikant Nayak, 39, and Hrusikesh Sahu, 21.

Police commissioner R.P. Singh said: “The main accused, Paresh, has confessed to have committed the crime. He had strangulated the teacher, Alakananda Mishra, to death with a dupatta following an altercation and later cremated her body at Kaliaboda crematorium on July 29. He had also taken the help of the other accused persons.”

Preliminary investigations revealed that Paresh was in a live-in relationship with her. The couple had been staying in a rented house at CDA Sector-10 for the past one year.

While the exact reason of dispute is yet to be ascertained, the dupatta and some other belongings of the deceased have been seized from Paresh’s cabin in the school. A forensic team has also visited the crematorium to collect evidence.

After killing Alakananda, Paresh took her body in an ambulance and cremated it allegedly with the help of Pranabas, who used to work as the transport in charge of the school and Kameshwar, a leader of Mangalabag.

After the murder, Paresh had vacated the rented house and kept the articles of Alakananda at his new residence on the school campus.

“We have seized a few half-burnt bones and ashes from the crematorium. A pen drive of the deceased, three mobile phones of Paresh and two SIM cards have also been seized. The contents of the phones and the call details are being verified,” Sharma said.

Investigations revealed that Alakananda was married to Sunanda of Pallaspalli in Bhubaneswar in 1998. Later, they got separated.

Alakananda had joined the school in 2010 as a teacher and came in contact with Paresh.

Since July 29, 2013, the family members of Alakananda failed to make a contact with her. They had the information that she was staying with Paresh and suspected that he might have killed her.

The victim’s brother Deba Mohapatra lodged a complaint with Markat Nagar police in this regard yesterday. While probing the case, the cops detained Paresh yesterday night.

Sources in the Markat Nagar police said that all the five accused had been booked under sections 302, 201, 506 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.