BERHAMPUR: Mystery shrouds the death of a fire services personnel whose body was found hanging from a tree in Budhakendu forest within Gangapur police limits in Ganjam district on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Dayanidhi Mahanta, a resident of Keonjhar district. He was posted as a driver at Aska Fire Station. In the morning, locals spotted a fire engine parked on Budhakendu road and on venturing into the forest, found Mahanta’s uniform-clad body hanging from a tree.
On being informed, police reached the spot and sent the body for postmortem. Mahanta’s cellphone was seized. Sources said a note was found from Mahanta’s pocket which stated that he was under stress after being denied leave by his senior officers and due to family problem. However, locals suspected foul play in the fireman’s death as the place from where his body was recovered is around 25 km from Aska.