Dhenkanal, Mar 22: Police cracked the sensational college student death case in Kamakhyanagar, arresting four accused within 48 hours of the incident, Dhenkanal Superintendent of Police Abhinav Sonkar said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference at the SDPO office, Sonkar said the prime accused, Gangadhar Patra alias Jaga of Santarapur village, allegedly took the minor student in a car to a nearby location on March 18 and raped her.

Death After Assault
The victim reportedly suffered excessive bleeding and later died. The case had triggered widespread outrage across the state.

Police said three others -- Chandan Kumar Nayak, Rasananda Nayak and Madan Mohan Patra -- assisted the main accused in the crime.

Swift Police Action
“All four accused in the case were arrested within 48 hours of the incident. We nabbed them around 2:45pm yesterday,” SP Sonkar said.

“We have seized the car which was used to take the victim to the crime scene and dispose of the body, along with three mobile phones, a college bag and the victim’s scarf,” he added.

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Investigation Findings
During the investigation, police found that the victim used to commute to college by bus and had left home on March 18 to appear for an examination.

“It came to our notice that the victim was known to the accused during her daily commute,” Sonkar said.

Post-Mortem and Medical Angle
The post-mortem was conducted at SCB Medical College and Hospital, and the report is awaited to determine the exact cause of death.

“In our preliminary probe, we found that the victim had undergone major heart surgery during childhood. Whether it is directly linked to her death can only be confirmed after the post-mortem report,” the SP said.

Additional SP Indurekha Paschimkabat, SDPO Rajanikant Samal and IIC Jitendra Kumar Mallik were also present at the press briefing.