The Keonjhar Police on Saturday recovered the body of a minor girl, who went missing on October 20, from a field near her native village under Sadar Police limits in Keonjhar district.
As per reports, on October 20, the minor girl went to attend a cultural event in the village with her family. Later, they noticed that she was missing from the function site. Her family members along with other villagers immediately launched a search operation in nearby areas and filed a missing complaint at Sadar Police Station on Friday after they failed to trace the girl even after two days of the incident.
Following the complaint, the police launched a search operation. On Saturday, the search team finally traced the girl's body lying on a field that was close to her village. Senior police officials along with the forensic team reached the spot and initiated a probe.
Also Read
Meanwhile, family members have alleged that the girl was raped and later murdered.
"The deceased girl's father filed a missing complaint yesterday (Friday) in the afternoon. Our team immediately reached the spot after receiving the complaint and launched a search operation. Today, the rescue team with the help of locals searched in the area splitting into teams. The search team found the girl's body lying on a field. It has been sent for post-mortem and we can only comment about any development after receiving the autopsy report," said Suresh Kumar Nayak, Additional ACP, Keonjhar.
On the other hand, BJP's Mohan Majhi, MLA of the constituency, reached the spot and has demanded to investigate the case without any anomaly to nab the culprit(s) as soon as possible. The local MLA has warned of raising protest if the offender is not traced and punished soon.
"A minor tribal girl was allegedly kidnapped and murdered after being raped. This is indeed a shocking and shameful incident for the people of Odisha. But, the district administration, as well as police, is not showing any zest to find the culprit(s) and get him punished. Even the investigation process seems to be sluggish. Several incidents in recent times have proven the failure of the Odisha government in delivering justice," said Majhi.