CUTTACK: An audio clip purportedly exposing a Rs 70,000 deal to suppress the mysterious death of a class X student of a government high school in Mahanga block, has gone viral. In the 15-minute clip, a person alleged to be a local BJD leader from Mahanga links a love affair with a teacher to the student’s unnatural death. He can be heard demanding Rs 70,000 from the mother of a school teacher apparently to hush up the matter.
The clip has triggered fresh controversy over the death of the 15-year-old girl at Sukuapada village in Gokan gram panchayat around three months back. The girl, a student of Gokan High School, had allegedly been in an affair with a teacher who reportedly lived in her house on rent. When the girl’s parents learnt of the affair, they reportedly asked the teacher to leave. Shamed, the girl reportedly stopped attending classes.
On June 18, she was found dead under suspicious circumstances. Though her family members insisted that she committed suicide, they did not inform the police and the girl’s body was cremated at the village without a postmortem.
In the audio clip, the local BJD leader is heard talking to the mother of the teacher concerned and boasting about how he suppressed the matter in connivance with police and local media persons. The politician also claims that had the postmortem been conducted, the report would have revealed she was pregnant. Asserting that the ashes have been consigned into a river, the leader asks the woman to pay up to Rs 70,000 for suppressing the case.
With the clip going viral, locals have demanded a high-level probe. “It was not suicide but a case of honour killing. We heard the victim’s father had slapped the girl following which she died,” said some locals. Mahanga police, however, refused to comment saying no FIR was filed in connection with the case.
Shady deal