MALKANGIRI: In a shocking incident, two girls, both students of MV-72 Primary Nodal School of Malkangiri district, were found hanging from a tree in a forested patch four kilometre away on Saturday afternoon, two days after they went missing.
The MV-79 police station where a complaint was lodged on Friday had no inkling of the matter till villagers found the bodies and informed the local police. The forest near Biliguda hills where the girls were found comes under Motu police station jurisdiction. Police said the girls were found hanging with their dupattas from a mango tree.
The deceased were identified as Mandira Sodi and Jyoti Halder. Both 12 and Class VII students, they studied at the Primary Nodal School of MV-72 village which comes under MV-79 police limits.
While Jyoti belonged to MV-72 village, Mandira was from MV-126, the two villages were located about 4 km to 5 km apart. Police said both the girls were day scholars and did not return home after school hours on Thursday. The family members reportedly looked for the girls but officially lodged a complaint a day later at MV-79 police station which started a search, albeit unsuccessfully.
After the bodies were discovered, Motu police registered a case and Malkangiri SDPO Sachin Patel visited the site.
Contacted, Patel told this paper that the day the two girls went missing, a teacher of the school had allegedly reprimanded the duo for roaming around and not coming to class on time. They were also informed that the matter would be taken up with their parents in a meeting scheduled on Monday.
The bodies were later sent for postmortem and scientific team from Koraput reached the site and conducted investigation.
Patel said investigation is underway and a clear picture will emerge after the postmortem report is available. The incident comes five days after a Class IX student of Gompakonda SSD High school in Kalimela allegedly died by suicide by hanging from a tree outside the school campus.
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