Cuttack, Dec. 4: Marital discord was the prime reason behind the murder of Sabita Patra, 42, whose body had been recovered from the septic tank of her house at Friends Colony on Tuesday.

Police today arrested Sabita’s husband Radhakant Pradhan, 45, who had earlier been detained, on charge of the murder.

A senior official said Radhakant had killed his wife by “throttling her” inside the kitchen following a scuffle on November 22 and dumped the body in the septic tank.

“Though the post-mortem report is yet to come, we have found evidence against Radhakant,” said additional deputy commissioner of police Sudarshan Sethi.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased had suffered head injuries and nasal bleeding while the accused had tried to mislead the investigation by creating a different crime scenario.