MALKANGIRI: Four days after two girl students were found hanging from a tree in a forest near MV-72 Primary Nodal School, Malkangiri police is still searching for clues to make headway in the investigation into the case.
While the cops continue to grapple in darkness, family members of the Class VII students, Mandira Sodi of MV-126 and Jyoti Halder of MV-72, alleged foul play in their deaths. Mandira’s father Baga Sodi claimed both the students were murdered.
“We suspect the girls were murdered by some miscreants and later hanged to give it a colour of suicide. Police should complete their investigation and bring the culprits to justice at the earliest,” he said.
Malkangiri sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Sachin Patel said the teachers and students of the school are being questioned in connection with the case.
“Police are also interrogating other people who were in touch with the girls before the incident. We are scanning the call details of the mobile phone recovered from the possession of Mandira Sodi,” he said.
The SDPO further said police are looking into all the possible angles to solve the case. “We are waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain the exact cause of the deaths. Further investigation is underway,” he added.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Malkangiri MLA Narasinga Madkami and BJP’s district unit president Ashok Kumar Parida met Baga and Jyoti’s father Timir Halder in their respective villages. They reportedly assured speedy justice to the bereaved families.
Mandira and Jyoti, both 12 years old, went missing on February 6 after a teacher of the school allegedly reprimanded them for roaming around and not coming to class on time. The teacher also threatened to take up the matter with their parents.
On February 8, villagers found the girls hanging from a mango tree in the forest near Biliguda hills, around 4 km from their school.