ROURKELA: The body of a teenage girl who went missing two days back was found hanging from a tree inside a forest near Lulkidihi village within Talsara police limits in Sundargarh district along Odisha-Chhattisgarh border on Sunday.
Police said after the 18-year-old girl’s father alleged foul play in her death, two persons were arrested on Monday on charges of kidnapping and abetting the suicide of the teenager. The accused, Rishi Pradhan (30) of Ankira village in Chhattisgarh and Sanjib Majhi (20) of Lulkidihi, were produced in court.
Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Sundargarh Nirmal Mohapatra said the girl went missing on Friday and her body was found inside a forest along the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border with help of sniffer dog. Prima facie, there was no evidence of sexual assault or any external injury on her body other than the hanging marks. Police are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the exact cause of death and confirm whether there was any sexual assault, the SDPO added.
Police said the girl was in a relationship with Rishi and the duo used to regularly chat on Facebook. The accused’s wife came to know about the relationship and vehemently opposed it. On the fateful day, the two accused called the girl over phone and the trio went to the forest on a motorcycle. Rishi and the girl reportedly had a fight following which the latter ran away deep inside the forest in a fit of rage. The girl’s mobile phone was recovered from the accused’s possession.
While IIC of Talsara police station Pushpendra Sagar said the girl was a major, panchayat samiti vice-chairman of Balishankara Pitamber Deo, quoting the victim’s father, said she was below 18 years of age and demanded a detailed investigation into her death.
Earlier on July 16, a 17-year-old girl was reportedly kidnapped by a youth and raped for a fortnight before Talsara police rescued her from the accused’s rented accommodation on July 31.