BHAWANIPATNA (Odisha): Distressed over opposition from their families to their inter-caste love, a young couple allegedly committed suicide in Temra village of Kalahandi district in Odisha today. Their bodies were found hanging from a tree.
Sources said Lalatendu Naik (20) and Namina Sabar (16) were in love for the last three years and wanted to marry. But their families were against it as the young was from an OBC (Other Backward Caste) social group and the girl from a Scheduled Tribe (ST).
Naik had graduated from an industrial training institute (ITI) and Namina had dropped out of school while in Class IX.
Informed about the young couple’s alleged suicide, police reached at the spot and recovered the bodies and sent them for a post-mortem procedure.
The inspector in charge (IIC) of the Jaipatna police station, Samir Rout said prima-facie the deaths appeared to be suicides. “However, the cause of death can be ascertained only after the autopsies are conducted.”
Lalatendu’s father Tankadhar Naik, alleged that the young man’s death was not a suicide. “I suspect he was killed and later hanged from the tree to give it an impression of suicide,” he demanded.