Keonjhar: A 35-year-old woman allegedly murdered her paramour and buried his body on the backyard of her house in Nayakote police station area of Keonjhar district.

The body was retrieved from Balarai village on Wednesday. Local people smelt foul and informed the police as stench was emanating from the house. The police later exhumed the body from the backyard of the accused's house, said inspector of Nayakote police station Biranchi Bag.

The accused woman, Sushama Palei, had hacked the victim, Yashoda Palei, by an axe. Yashoda was living in a house on the neighbourhood. After committing the murder, Sushama had buried Yashoda's body with the help of her spouse Chaturbhuj Palei.

The murder was committed on February 25. The body that was exhumed in the presence of magistrate was in a highly-decomposed state. Forensic team inspected the spot of the crime and gathered vital material evidence of the crime from there. The body has been sent for post-mortem, said the police.

Chaturbhuj has been arrested for abetting to murder. However, Sushama is absconding. A search is on to find and arrest her.

"It was a case of revenge killing by the accused woman. She killed the paramour as he had embittered her conjugal life," the police said, quoting the confessional statement of Chaturbhuj.