Tailor’s tag on shirt helps police to crack a mysterious murder case in Cuttack

PTI, Dec 16, 2024, 12:02 PM IST

Representative image (Source: Pinterest)

Cuttack: A tailor’s tag on a blood-stained shirt found near the crime scene helped the Odisha Police to crack a mysterious murder case and arrest three people, an officer said.

The police on December 13 recovered the body of a 35-year-old woman on the banks of Kathjodi river in Cuttack under Kandarpur police station.

The deceased remained unidentified and nobody lodged any complaint at any police station in the state. The police had no clue other than getting a weapon of offence a chopper. It was a big challenge for the police to crack the case, said Cuttack DCP Jagmohan Meena.

Meena said though tattoos were found on both the hands of the deceased woman, they could not help her identification. One blood-stained shirt and pant were found on the water body near the spot. It was found that both the wearing apparel had a tag of ‘New Star Tailors’ stitched, he said.

“This clue was focused upon. Around 10 tailors with this name or similar name in Odisha were verified and their tag design was compared with the tag of the shirt and pant found at the spot. However, there was no match found. A tailor in Ganjam district informed that such kind of tags are being used in Gujarat,” Meena said.

The DCP said the Gujarat police was contacted and they found such a tailor in Surat. The tailor’s tag had a number ‘3833’ which was matched and upon search, it was seen that the shirt was stitched for one person named ‘Babu’.

“There was no other detail available. However, the tailor gave one important clue that he had to return Rs 100 to the customer ‘babu’ but he did not have the change. So, he transferred Rs 100 on the e-wallet of one mobile number. That number was contacted and it was found that he is a friend of ‘babu’.

“Details of ‘Babu’ were received. He was found to be Jaganath Duhuri (27) @ Babu @ Bapi of Kendrapada. It was found that he (Babu) was going back to Surat by train. The train was passing through Rayagada when he was nabbed,” Meena said.

On further verification and interrogation, it was found that he was the brother-in-law of the deceased. He also revealed that he committed crime with the help of his brother Balaram Duhuri and cousin Hapi Duhuri. All three have been apprehended, police said.

“Balaram Duhuri was the husband of the deceased woman. The motive of the crime is chronic marital dispute between the deceased and her husband. Balaram was doubting that the deceased was having an extra-marital affair with someone,” the DCP said.