JEYPORE: While the outrage over Bamunigaon rape case in Koraput’s Jeypore is yet to abate, the nude body of a tribal woman was found in a cashew forest at Borigumma on Sunday.
The deceased is said to be a 20-year-old woman of Chilliguda village. She was working in the local cashew mill. Locals suspect that the woman was raped and murdered.
Sources said the woman had gone to the forest to collect firewood on Thursday. When she did not return, her parents and family members launched a frantic search.
On Sunday morning, some villagers found a cellphone on the road leading to the cashew forest and informed her parents.
Further search led to blood stains and recovery of the injury-ridden nude body of the woman in a nearby bush. As she had no previous enmity with anyone in the locality, villagers believe that she was raped and murdered by miscreants.
Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Borigumma HK Majhi said the deceased’s body was sent for postmortem. Ruling out sexual assault, he said police have registered a murder case and investigation is on.
“However, we are inquiring all possible angles including rape in the case. The postmortem report is awaited to ascertain the exact cause of death,” the SDPO added.
On December 24, a woman was allegedly raped in Bamunigaon village within Jeypore Sadar police limits.
In her complaint with police, the rape survivor alleged that two criminals Lalu Bahadur and Mina Barik of Kusumput village raped her in presence of her husband at gunpoint.
The incident snowballed into a political storm with BJP observing Jeypore bandh on December 30 demanding immediate arrest of the rape accused.
The Congress too has threatened to hit the streets as police have failed to nab the accused duo so far.