Teen girl, 2 'friends' kill woman who raised her

A Class VIII girl student and her two male friends were arrested Friday in Gajapati district for allegedly murdering a woman who had adopted the girl after rescuing her from roadside when she was just three days old, a police officer said.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

According to police, the girl and her friends smothered the woman — identified as 54-year-old Rajalaxmi Kar — at her rented house in Paralakhemundi town April 29.

The motive was allegedly her opposition to the girl’s relationship with the two young men and to gain control of her property.

After committing the crime, the accused fabricated a story claiming Rajalaxmi had died of a heart attack.

The next day, April 30, they cremated her body in Bhubaneswar, where some of her relatives resided.

Due to Rajalaxmi’s history of heart disease, her family, including her brother, believed the fabricated story, Gajapati SP Jatindra Kumar Panda said.