Man chased, shot dead after refusing divorce; wife, lover among 5 held

KENDRAPADA: Five people, including a woman and her lover, were arrested in Jajpur district on Monday on the charge of murdering her husband last Wednesday. They were produced in the Jajpur court, which remanded them to judicial custody, said superintendent of police (SP) Yashpratap Shrimal.Soumya Ranjan Samal (23) of Kuansarpur under Jajpur Town police station was allegedly gunned down by his wife's lover Tapan Khillar (26), who was on a motorcycle, at Kalimegha Chowk near the residence of former BJD MLA Pranab Prakash Das. Soumya was first rushed to the district headquarters hospital at Jajpur, from where doctors referred him to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, where he succumbed to his injuries.Shrimal said they examined the footage of a nearby CCTV camera, which showed that the accused gunned down Soumya Ranjan after chasing him around 10.30pm."During probe, we came to know that the wife of the deceased Subhashree Behera (23), who ran a beauty parlour on Jajpur Road had an extramarital affair with Tapan, the brother of her friend Pritiprava Priryadarshani Khilar (23). Tapan, last month proposed Subhashree, asking her to take divorce, and she agreed. But her husband did not, after which Tapan, Pritiprava and Subhashree hatched a plan to kill Soumya. Tapan, who worked as a driver in Rourkela, had contact with local arms suppliers, Ankit Thakur and Suraj Singh, from whom he purchased a gun to eliminate Soumya. Pritiprava paid Rs 49,000 to Ankit and Suraj through her phone wallet on March 27. After gunning down Soumya, assailant Tapan concealed the revolver in a bush behind Jajpur medical college," said the SP, while addressing reporters.Police later seized a country-made gun, live bullet, bike and helmet, and seven mobile phones. All five accused - Tapan and Pritiprava of Mirzapur village under Jajpur Sadar police station, Subhashree, and gun suppliers Suraj (27) and Ankit (27) - were booked under sections 103 (murder) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence) of BNS and under the provisions of Arms Act.In a chilling parallel, a similar plot recently surfaced in the Meghalaya honeymoon murder case of Raja Raghuvanshi in May last year. The Special Investigation Team of Meghalaya Police filed a 790-page chargesheet naming his wife Sonam Raghuvanshi as the main accused. Police said she allegedly conspired with her lover and three hired men to kill Raja during their honeymoon trip to Shillong. The couple had gone missing in May 2025, and his body was later recovered from a deep gorge near Wei Sawdong. Investigators said the murder was carried out in her presence, with substantial evidence now submitted before a court in Sohra, underscoring a disturbing pattern of relationship-driven contract killings.