A woman’s half-burnt body was found in a jungle near Dedhel village under Saintala block in Bolangir district on Tuesday.
The deceased has been identified as Ratani Rana (55), a resident of Thulanikani village.
According to family members, Ratani was hard of hearing. She suddenly went missing on Monday following which her husband, Rasika Rana, and other family members launched a frantic search for her. In the evening, they had to return home. They again started searching for her today morning. Later, they spotted her half-burnt body in the jungle near Dedhel village. Though the body was charred beyond recognition, the family members identified her from the clothes lying nearby.
While the deceased’s family members alleged she had been murdered, the police said they would crack the case soon.
“We searched for her at every possible place till the evening. Today we found her half-burnt body in the forest,” said Rasika.
However, he was clueless about the reason why his wife had been murdered.
On being informed, a team from Saintala Police station reached the spot, recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem. Later, Titlagarh sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ankita Kumbhar, a scientific team and sniffer dog squad also reached the spot and launched a probe.
It seems there is no let-up in crime against women. A woman was allegedly gang-raped at Kereda village in Kandhamal district on Sunday night. The incident came to the fore after a case was registered at the Sadar Police Station on Monday. She alleged that the assault was a fallout of past enmity.
(Reported by Manas Ranjan Mohanty from Titlagarh, OTV)