india

Updated: Jan 18, 2020 20:44 IST

More than two weeks after a 19-year-old woman went missing, the Odisha police on Saturday arrested her husband on charges of killing his wife and burying her body.

The decomposed body of Arati Singh was exhumed by police from a forest near Amburi village of Sambalpur district in the presence of her husband Kunal Singh, an autorickshaw driver.

Sambalpur additional superintendent of police said soon after Arati went missing from Bahalpada village in Sambalpur district on January 1, her husband had filed a missing persons’ complaint at Dhanupali Police station on January 3.

“When Kunal’s family members in Bihar did not receive the calls of Arati’s parents, they arrived in Sambalpur on January 7 but found the house locked. They lodged an FIR at Mahila Police Station against Kunal and his family members on January 7,” said the additional SP.

On January 8 and 9, the cops along with a scientific team visited the house after complaints of a foul smell emanating from the house was lodged by the father of the deceased. The cops had also found a bloodstain on a wall of the house.

Police said after Kunal was arrested, he confessed to murdering his wife following an argument on December 31 night.

Kunal and Arati were married for over a year and a half. Arati’s family members later told the police that Kunal had an affair with another woman. The father of the deceased alleged that Arati used to be tortured physically and mentally by her in-laws over dowry.

The body has been sent to a government hospital for post-mortem.