JHARSUGUDA: A 30-year-old woman and her two minor daughters were found dead in their house at Ganganagar in Brajrajnagar area on Wednesday. The deceased are Soni Podar (30), her daughters Radhika (5) and Muskan (3). Soni’s husband Narayan Podar (35), a daily wager, is absconding. Narayan’s younger brother Kalakanhu (33) has been detained by police and is being interrogated.
Sources said neighbours last saw the family at around 9 pm on Tuesday. However, when the milkman knocked on their door at around 7 am on Wednesday, no one responded. Subsequently, he peeked through the window and saw the woman and her daughters lying dead.On being informed, police rushed to Ganganagar and recovered the bodies from the house. Jharsuguda SP Bikash Chandra Dash, Additional SP Kesab Chandra Behera, Brajrajnagar police and a scientific team also reached the spot for investigation.
SP Dash said according to neighbours, the woman and her family went to bed by 9 pm on Tuesday night. “We scanned the house and found cooked food from last night. There were no external injury marks on the bodies of the two kids. But the woman had nail marks near her neck. We are awaiting the postmortem reports to ascertain the cause of their deaths,” he said.
Police suspect that the mother-daughter trio was strangulated to death. Dash said prima facie, it appears that the woman’s husband or brother-in-law might be involved in the murders. “It is too early to draw any conclusion. The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained. However, we are investigating the case from all possible angles and the woman’s brother-in-law is being interrogated. We are yet to receive an FIR in this connection. A case will be registered after a complaint is lodged,” he added.
Reportedly, Soni had lodged a complaint with local police against Kalakanhu a few weeks back accusing him of attempting to rape her. While the neighbours said there was no marital dispute between the couple, Soni’s mother Sangita Gouda said her son-in law used to beat her daughter in inebriated state frequently.