Love affair goes wrong: Man kills driver in woman’s house

Bhubaneswar: The city woke up to a shocking turn of events that started with a murder over a suspected love triangle and ended in an accident that could have been fatal as a car careened off the Sishu Bhawan overbridge and plunged near a cluster of shanties below.

According to the police, 30-year-old Satyabrata Pradhan, a car driver, was killed following a heated confrontation with another man inside a woman’s house in Niladri Vihar under Chandrasekharpur police station limits, in the early hours of Monday.


The woman, who works in a beauty parlour, was present when the incident unfolded. Police identified the alleged killer as Dinesh Kandi, who fled after slashing Pradhan’s throat.

“Pradhan had reached the woman’s residence in his employer’s car. He, Kandi, and the woman were inside her room when an argument broke out over their relationships. The quarrel escalated, leading to Kandi attacking Pradhan with a knife,” DCP Jagmohan Meena said.

A profusely bleeding Pradhan managed to run towards the main road, crying for help. The woman claimed she called an ambulance and alerted her neighbours. “He was rushed to Capital Hospital in an ambulance. Neighbours followed the ambulance in his (Pradhan’s) car,” she was quoted as saying by the police.

Doctors declared Pradhan dead upon arrival. Police have detained the woman for questioning and are searching for Kandi. “We are examining call records and social media chats of the three persons to establish the motive. The entire sequence will be clear once Kandi is arrested,” the DCP added.

Once the owner of the car Pradhan was driving heard the news, he panicked, fearing the vehicle would be seized as evidence in the murder case. “In an attempt to escape such an ordeal, the car owner and another driver went to Capital Hospital from where they drove away with the vehicle,” Meena said.

While fleeing, the driver lost control on Sishu Bhawan overbridge, rammed the car into the wall and plunged near the shanties below.