Bhubaneswar, July 9: A 25-year-old woman allegedly killed her husband and buried him under their rented house at Dhirakuti Sahi.

Police today recovered the semi-decomposed body of the man. Local people alleged that his wife and her paramour had murdered the man.

The deceased has been identified as Ashok Das, 30, and his wife as Deepa. Ashok, who hailed from Keonjhar district, was a driver. He had been living with his wife in the city since the past one month.

Sources said Ashok was not seen in the locality for a week. When the local people enquired about him, Deepa told them that her husband had gone out of town on duty and would be back within a week. After that, Deepa fled the spot and was not seen in the vicinity for the past few days. This raised suspicion among the local residents, who saw the house locked for long. Then they reported the matter to the local police late last evening.

Acting on the complaint, the police visited the house with a dog squad this morning. The dog traced the foul smell and led the squad to the place where the body had been buried. The police then dug nearly 5ft and recovered the partially decomposed body.

Deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said the police had exhumed the body.

"It is a case of murder and as the wife is absconding now, she becomes the prime suspect in the case. We will examine the evidence and arrest the accused," said Bhoi.

Sources said the incident took place at least two weeks ago. It seems that more than one person was involved in disposing of the body.

Neighbours said the couple had a strained relationship and was seen frequently quarrelling. "The house had been locked since Tuesday and Ashok was absent for the past week. We suspected something was amiss and reported it to the police, " said a local resident on request of anonymity.