Bhanjanagar: In a shocking incident, police recovered the bodies of four persons, including a woman, buried underground in Mankadchuan forest under Badagada police station limits in Ganjam district this afternoon.
The deceased are from Mankadchuan village, police said. Of the four deceased, two belong to one family while the two others belong to two separate families. All of them had gone missing since last two days.
Talking to OTV over phone, Ganjam SP Narasingh Bhola said the police, following information that the four villagers have been murdered and buried underground, rushed to the forest area near the village and recovered the bodies and took them for post mortem.
“The police, after an informal discussion with the villagers, has detained four persons in this connection for interrogation to elicit more information from them,” he said. Going by circumstantial evidence, the deceased, after being beaten to death, were buried underground inside the forest on the outskirts of the village, he added.
The SP also said preliminary investigation had revealed that the four villagers might have been murdered for their illicit relationship.
The SP did not give further details saying it may affect the investigation.
Ganjam collector Prem Chand Chaudhary said the SP is monitoring the case properly.
“Efforts are on to trace out the accused involved in the incident and appropriate action would be taken against them,” he added.