Bhubaneswar: Police on Thursday hinted at suicide by Unmaya Padhi, 46, whose partially burnt body was found on the Kuakhai river bank on March 22.
The cops came to think in this direction after analysing the crime site. They suspect Padhi killed himself to avenge his arrest by Kharvel Nagar police in March last year in connection with an obscene video featuring him and a 26-year-old woman. He may have been trying to take revenge on the woman by making his suicide appear like murder.
The police said though prima facie it appeared to be a case of homicide, further analysis of circumstantial evidence hinted at possible suicide.
"We found the sand around the spot undisturbed. If any one had indeed killed him and later set him ablaze, there would have been signs of resistance by the deceased leading to the sand being scattered. Also, the helmet found near the spot was sitting in normal position," said a police official involved in investigation of the case.
The cops have also found a 15-page letter from the spot where Padhi had written about his ordeal since he was arrested in the obscene video case.
"The content of the letter hinted at Padhi nurturing a grudge against the woman. During investigation, we had found Padhi had created a Whatsapp group involving the friends of the woman and sharing several intimate videos with the girl. Investigation also found Padhi of uploading the clips on various pornographic websites. We also went through the partially burnt laptop of the deceased found on the spot but did not find any obscene clip. So we strongly suspect Padhi of deleting the clips on his own to fix the woman in the case," said the official.
The police said they had initially suspected the woman and her boyfriend of killing him and the suspicion grew after they found the mobile phone of the girl's boyfriend switched off for hours on the night of March 21.
"We interrogated the youth, who claimed he switched off his mobile phone after Padhi shared the nude clips on porn sites for which his friends started calling him. He also claimed to have sent emails to various porn sites to remove the clips. We went through his call detail records and email and found his claims to be true," said the investigator.
However, the kitchen knife stuck in the deceased's body remains a mystery. "We are investigating all angles. It may take time to solve the case," said deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo.