The relatively quiet state of Odisha was sent into shockwaves after a 24-year-old school teacher of Jharni village under the Turekela block of Balangir district was brutally murdered.

On 8 October, Mamita Meher, a teacher at Sunshine English Medium School, was allegedly called by Gobinda Sahu, the prime accused in the case, to come to the school for some official work. Sahu is reportedly the managing committee president of the same school where Mamata worked. He asked to her come to Chandotara in the Balangir district.

After reaching Chandotara by bus, there was no contact with the teacher and her mobile phone was switched off. Concerned family members lodged a missing person's complaint with Kegaon police in Kalahandi and Turekela police. Another complaint was lodged in Sindhekela police station.

The police launched a search operation to locate the teacher, and seized Gobinda’s car. They examined the CCTV footage in various places to ascertain the movement of the victim and the prime accused. Eleven days after she had gone missing, on 19 October, the police found Mamata’s remains at a stadium construction site of Sunshine English Medium School. The body was chopped in a bid to burn it easily.

The police said that the statements, material, scientific and technical evidence along with the confession of Gobinda Sahu revealed that it was a pre-planned murder.

On 8 October, Kalahandi school teacher Mamata Meher had a heated talk with Sahu, and threatened him that she would expose his extra-marital relationships. The cops say that Mamita’s murder was a revenge act by Govind, who was offended by her audacity to threaten him.

The police have said that the motive behind the murder was personal. Mamata knew about the extra-marital affairs of Sahu who is a father of four sons and a daughter. The latter wanted her to go to a temple and swear not to reveal any details about his affairs. Mamata refused, upon which, he implemented his Plan B - murdering her. He had come prepared, the police said.

Sahu allegedly strangled her to death, and pushed her body from the front seat to the floor of the car so no one could see. In the re-creation of the crime scene, Sahu told the police that this happened close to 11am while they were on the road to Mahaling. He then went home, parked his car in his backyard, and took out his scooter to go to the school playground where he would bury the victim's body. He asked Radheshyam to arrange for some wood and a tyre.

In the evening, he drove the car to the playground, where a pit had been dug a day before. He put the dead body and all of Mamata's belongings in the pit and set it on fire.

The State Home Minister Link

The case assumes further significance because of two reasons. One, Gobinda Sahu is known to be very close to state Home Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Dibya Shankar Mishra. There are several videos and photos of him attending events at the school in the past and lavishing praises on Sahu.

Two, media reports appeared that a student of the school where Mamata worked claimed that Sahu was running a sex racket and Dibya Shankar Mishra used to visit the girl’s hostel. She said that the students were barred from keeping mobile phones on them but Sahu made the exception for girls who were a part of the racket, and allowed them to keep mobile phones in the school premises.

This hints that the murder of Mamata might just be the tip of an iceberg. As per police records, the sections slapped on Gobinda Sahu are the following:

- Section 120 IPC (Concealing Design to Commit Offence). This section entails punishment of imprisonment for at least 4 years.

- Section 201 IPC (Causing Disappearance of Evidence). The punishment mandated here is a maximum of 10 years.

- Section 302 IPC ( Homicide or Murder) (Since the police are not claiming it a rarest of rare case. Therefore, punishment is life imprisonment. As per legal experts, life imprisonment could be for 14 years, 20 years or until death)

- Section 366 IPC (Kidnapping, Abducting or Inducing Women to Compel her Marriage)

As the details of the abduction and murder come forth, the Opposition has launched a scathing attack on the ruling BJD. Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Baijayant Jay Panda criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for shielding the minister involved in the case.

“Read & weep. A woman murdered, girls allegedly exploited, a state in turmoil, but @Naveen_Odisha refuses to drop this guy from his govt. Mamita Meher case: Odisha Minister used to visit girls hostel, Govind Sahu ran sex racket says student [Listen],” Panda tweeted.

The BJP’s Sambalpur unit is observing a 12-hour bandh in the district today demanding the removal of minister Dibya Shankar Mishra and a CBI probe in the case. On Saturday (23 October), the BJP women wing of the state scuffled with the police during their parade to Naveen Niwas from Ram Mandir square demanding the ouster of the minister.

Gobinda Sahu

Get Swarajya in your inbox.