JAMSHEDPUR: Odisha Police on Tuesday arrested a 40-year-old man from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, nearly two months after he allegedly killed his mother and buried her body under the kitchen floor of their rented house in Puri, an official said.Police searched for the accused across Odisha and also visited Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu during the investigation, news agency PTI reported.The woman’s body was recovered on August 24 after the house owner in Puri’s Kumbharpada area alerted police about a foul smell coming from a locked room rented by Gajapati district native Madan Gajanan Dale, 40, and his mother Annapurna, police said.Dalei was arrested in Jamshedpur, where he was working at a shop, Puri superintendent of police Prateek Singh said.The SP said Dalei had been on the run for 57 days, frequently changing his place of stay and rarely using mobile phones.His arrest followed sustained analysis of CCTV footage and inputs from local sources, he added.Explaining the investigation, Singh said police had acted on a complaint from the house owner in Puri.They opened the locked room and dug up Annapurna’s body from the kitchen floor, which had been freshly cemented, PTI reported.Police examined CCTV footage from cameras installed at the rented house and in the surrounding area.The footage showed the accused and his mother leaving the house on the morning of August 20 and sitting near the Jagannath Temple, apparently seeking alms.Investigators also found footage showing the accused purchasing sand and cement on August 21, providing important clues during the probe, the SP said.He added that the woman might have been killed on the night of August 20, after which the accused allegedly buried her body in the kitchen.Asked about the motive, the SP said, “Though he has confessed to the crime, he is yet to reveal the reason behind the incident.”During the search for Dalei, Puri Police visited his native place, Parlakhemundi, and learnt that he had contacted his sister, who lived in Kolkata. Police subsequently received a clue about his whereabouts in Jamshedpur.By the time police reached the industrial town in Jharkhand, Dalei had fled.Police officials also visited Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and announced rewards at various places for his capture, Singh said.However, acting on recent information, police arrested Dalei from a snack shop in Jamshedpur, he added.(With agency inputs)
