TV
A Pattamundai college girl’s death from severe burn injuries in Kendrapara district has been confirmed as a suicide. The Superintendent of Police (SP) ruled out honour killing on Tuesday and stated that the girl was harassed by a man who sent her obscene videos.
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According to police sources, the female student from Pattamundai of Kendrapara died after suffering 95 per cent burn injuries, confirmed by the post-mortem report. Speaking at a press conference, the Kendrapara SP Siddharth Kataria revealed today that the girl died by suicide, not due to any foul play or honour-based violence.
CCTV footage shows the girl’s parents had left home just before the incident occurred. She was on a phone call till 8.00 o’clock on the intervening day of the tragedy. The burn injuries reportedly happened between 8.00 and 11.30 o’ clock, leading to her untimely death.
The only accused so far is Pramod Behera, who had allegedly harassed the girl and sent her obscene videos. Police confirmed the presence of this digital evidence. Probes continue, but no link has yet been found to suggest honour killing of the college girl.
The girl’s parents were not present at home when the fire mishap occurred, as confirmed by surveillance footage. The SP emphasised that as of now, only one person has been named in the mysterious death case. Police are waiting on further forensic and digital reports to close the case definitively, Kendrapara SP Kataria expressed in the presser.
Fourteen days after the highly publicised and suspicious death of the college student from Kathiapada village, police have received the FMT (Forensic Medical Test) and post-mortem reports. The reports confirmed that the girl died after being burned alive. It indicates she poured petrol on herself and set herself on fire, resulting in severe burn injuries.
“As has been clearly mentioned in the post-mortem report, the cause of the girl’s death is ante-mortem burn injuries. It is, apparently, a case of death by suicide. This indicates, she had burn injuries before she died. Hence, it is a suicide case,” the SP said to OTV.
“When we verified the CCTV footage, we found that the girl’s father had left the house at around 7.40 o’ clock and he and his wife had returned home at around 11.30 o’clock. Hence, it was confirmed, the death occurred within that time span. We have not yet found any evidence of honour killing,” the SP stated when contacted.
SP Kataria added that the evidence supports a suicide, not murder. Scientific analysis revealed carbon particles in the respiratory tract, confirming the victim was alive when the fire started, suggesting self-immolation.
