PATNA: The discovery of the mutilated body of a young girl on her college campus in Bhagalpur in eastern Bihar created a tense atmosphere among staff and students on Friday.
The victim was identified as Sunita Kumari, a first-year student of BA (sociology honours) at Tej Narayan Banaili (TNB) College, a 134-year-old college counted as among the best in the region.
Police said her body was seen by college staff at a secluded part of campus early on Friday morning.
A blunt weapon was apparently used to bludgeon her to death and there was also an effort to deface her, said a police official. Her body was sent for post mortem and college authorities were spoken to as part of the probe. The campus witnessed unrest as student organisations protested and demanded that principal RPC Verma put in place better security arrangements for girl students.
The area where the body was found is outside the ambit of the CCTV cameras installed on campus. Circumstantial evidence suggested that there were three people, including the victim, at the site and it could be the outcome of a soured relationship.
With the recovery of some disposable dishes, a box of vermillion and some clothes in a bag near the body, police suspect that the victim might have reached the spot to get married.
Sunita used to travel about 20 km from her home in Akbarnagar village to reach college for classes.
“Her parents said she had left home on Thursday morning for college though it was closed that day. When she did not return before evening like she normally did, they were worried and started looking for her,” said University police station SHO Samarendra Kumar.
A man found loitering near the body was detained by police, he said, adding that blood stains were found on his jeans. Bhagalpur SSP Manoj Kumar said a probe is in progress and that “vital leads” have been collected. He, however, did not give any more details.