Security guard out on bail held for girlfriend’s murder

Bhubaneswar: A hotel security guard, who is out on bail in connection with two separate rape and rape-murder cases, was on Thursday arrested for allegedly murdering his girlfriend on Daya riverbed in Bhubaneswar in Jan this year. The motive behind the murder was his reported suspicion that she was having an affair with another man.
The accused, Chandan Parida, 27, was arrested after police identified the decomposed body found on Jan 28 on Daya riverbed as Sneha Behera alias Arpana (30). The identification was confirmed last week, police sources said. Investigations revealed that Parida, previously arrested for a rape case on April 14, 2013, and a rape-murder case on Aug 16, 2016, in Jagtsinghpur district's Kujanga area, met Sneha through social media in 2021. Sneha, originally from Kandhamal district, worked as a saleswoman in Baramunda area and lived independently in the city.
"Their four-year relationship deteriorated when Parida began suspecting Sneha of having another relationship, leading to frequent arguments. Sneha had turned down Parida's marriage proposal," said DCP Jagmohan Meena. On Jan 10, Parida took Sneha to Dhauli peace pagoda near Daya river in the evening. Following a heated argument, he allegedly strangulated her at an isolated spot of the riverbed and concealed her body in nearby bushes.
Police found her decomposed remains on Jan 28 after a few locals reported about it. Police zeroed in on Parida after analysing the phone records of the deceased. Parida initially claimed innocence despite acknowledging his acquaintance with Sneha.
Police investigation confirmed that both Parida's and Sneha's mobile phones were located at Daya riverbed on Jan 10. "During sustained interrogation, suspect Parida confessed," the DCP said.
Before Sneha's identification, one Mitu Behera attempted to falsely implicate a woman's husband in Sneha's murder, police sources said. A native of Chandanpur in Puri district, Behera unsuccessfully attempted to marry this woman. "When she turned down his proposal and married elsewhere, he planted documents of her husband near the crime scene after seeing news coverage of the decomposed body's recovery at Daya riverbed. Police arrested Behera on Feb 6 after discovering his deception," another police officer said.