Three-time Odisha MLA ‘confesses’ to double murder

Anup Sai accused of killing a woman, minor daughter.

The Chhattisgarh Police on Friday claimed that three-time Odisha MLA Anup Sai confessed to committing murder of a woman and her minor daughter in the year 2016.

Mr. Sai was produced before a local court in Raigad district of Chhattisgarh. He was subsequently remanded to judicial custody. Addressing a press conference, Raigad SP Santosh Kumar Singh said Chhattisgarh police talked to 700 people and pieced together the facts behind the murder before arresting Mr. Sai.

“Despite having a family, the accused had developed a relationship with the woman identified as Kalpana Das. They were living happily together in Bhubaneswar until demand for marriage arose from the deceased woman. Worried over the development which could spoil his political career and family life, Sai decided to finish her off,” said Raigad SP Santosh Kumar Singh.

The mutilated body of the woman and her 14-year-old daughter was found along the Hamirpur road in Raigad district on May 7, 2016. According to Raigad police, it was difficult to make progress in investigation from an unidentified body.

“We subsequently sent her photographs to six States. One of the distant relatives of woman identified her after one year... From the call details retrieved, we came to know that the woman was in regular touch with the former MLA. Despite our repeated intimations to be present before the investigating team, he avoided us,” he said. The investigating team caught Mr. Sai in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district.

Sai confessed that he had taken the woman and her daughter in the pretext of marrying her to Raigad district, where he attacked them with an iron rod and ran his vehicle over their bodies several times, said Mr. Singh.

Mr. Sai was elected to Odisha Legislative Assembly thrice on a Congress ticket. He had joined the Biju Janata Dal in 2014.

He had held the post of Chairman of Odisha State Warehousing Corporation. The Naveen Patnaik Government removed him from the post following his arrest. Hewas also expelled from the party.

Raigad police said it would seek a narco-analysis test on the accused to make the case foolproof.