Kendrapada: A 33-year-old man was on Friday arrested for allegedly burning his pregnant wife alive over dowry at Bidyadharpur village under Jajpur Town police station limits of Jajpur district. The victim, who was 22 years old, was five months pregnant.According to the police’s preliminary investigation, the accused husband (Bijay Kumar Sahoo) and his parents poured kerosene on the victim (Ahalya Sahoo) and set her ablaze on June 21. “She was first admitted to the district headquarters hospital in Jajpur and subsequently, referred to SCM Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack where she succumbed to her injuries on June 25,” the inspector in-charge of Jajpur town police station, Sarat Kumar Nayak, said.Police said she was being tortured by her husband and in-laws on dowry-related grounds ever since their marriage last year.Her father, Bijay Sahoo of Ranigoda village, lodged an FIR on June 23, alleging that his daughter was killed by her husband and her in-laws.“Following an investigation, we arrested the husband and are probing the case further. More people will be arrested in this case soon,” Nayak added. “The accused was booked under Sections 103 (murder), 85 (cruelty inflicted on a woman by her husband or his relatives) of BNS and Section 4 of the Dowry Prevention Act, 1961, on charges of uxoricide,” he said.Bijay was produced in the local court on Friday. The court rejected his bail application and remanded him in jail custody, Nayak added.
