Caretaker Arrested in Shocking Murder of Elderly Woman in Bhubaneswar
A caretaker has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 76-year-old woman in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, after a week-long manhunt.
Bhubaneswar, November 12 (Daily Kiran) : Police Commissioner S. Dev Datt Singh announced on Thursday that the Commissionerate Police has solved the shocking murder case of a 76-year-old woman in the Lakshmi Sagar area of Bhubaneswar. After a week-long operation across multiple states, authorities apprehended the woman’s caretaker in Gujarat.
The suspect, identified as Balabhadra Maharana, also known as Baliya, is a 40-year-old resident of Tangi in Khurda district. He had been working as the caretaker for Kunjalata Nanda, the deceased, for the past five months following the death of her husband.
During a press briefing, the police commissioner revealed that the suspect killed the elderly woman out of greed. After the crime, he broke into a cupboard and disabled the CCTV cameras before fleeing the scene.
Initial investigations indicated that Maharana attempted to strangle Nanda. When she resisted, he struck her on the back of the head with lethal force.
The incident came to light on the morning of November 4, when tenants in the same building alerted Nanda’s daughter, Samahita Nanda, after her mother failed to respond. They found her room locked from the inside.
Upon receiving the report, police forced entry through a grilled door and discovered Nanda bleeding profusely near the dining table, with severe head injuries. She was rushed to Capital Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A case was registered by the Lakshmi Sagar police under Section 311 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following a complaint from her son-in-law.
According to the police, Maharana was hired through a relative, Bidyadhar Maharana, who previously worked as a domestic helper for Nanda’s elder son, currently residing in the United States.
After committing the crime, the suspect deliberately evaded capture, frequently changing locations and traveling between states. Authorities reported that he visited cities including Kolkata, Raipur, Panipat, and Surat during this time.
A special team from the Lakshmi Sagar police station tracked him down in Ahmedabad. Acting on intelligence, they went to Surat, where they intercepted a bus bound for Delhi in the Vadodara district and arrested Maharana.
Police recovered ₹20,600 in cash, a gold locket, a gold ring, a pair of earrings, two mobile phones, a SIM card, and a diary from him.
Maharana has been brought back to Bhubaneswar on transit remand, where he is being interrogated to recover stolen items and the deceased’s scooter, which he used to flee the crime scene.
