Odisha Police cracked a mysterious murder case following the discovery of a woman’s body on the banks of the Kathjodi river on December 13. Despite the woman’s identity remaining unknown initially and no complaints filed, a key clue—a tailor’s tag on a blood-stained shirt—led to the unraveling of the case.
Cuttack’s police recovered the body near the crime scene, but initial efforts to identify the woman through tattoos or other clues were unsuccessful. However, a shirt and pants found near the body had a tag stitched with “New Star Tailors,” which provided a critical lead. The police traced the tag to several tailors in Odisha, but a breakthrough came when a tailor in Ganjam district informed them that the tags were also used in Gujarat.
Following this lead, Cuttack police contacted their Gujarat counterparts, who identified the tailor in Surat and found that the shirt was made for a customer named ‘Babu’. The tailor also provided a key detail—he had returned ₹100 to ‘Babu’ via a mobile e-wallet, which led police to the mobile number. This number was traced to a friend of ‘Babu’, identified as Jaganath Duhuri, who used the aliases Babu and Bapi.
Upon arresting Duhuri, police learned that he was the deceased woman’s brother-in-law. He confessed that he, along with his brother Balaram (the woman’s husband) and cousin Hapi Duhuri, had killed her over a long-standing marital dispute. The motive was suspicion of infidelity, with Balaram believing his wife was involved in an extramarital affair.
All three men have been arrested and the case is now under investigation.
