Bhadrak: The decomposed body of a nine-year-old girl, who went missing five days ago from a village in Odisha’s Bhadrak district, was recovered by a search team on Thursday.
Police said the body was recovered near a canal at Adia village under Basudevpur Marine police station limits, around 400 meters from the girl’s home during a joint search operation by the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) and the Fire Service department.
The girl was allegedly abducted around 7:30 pm on September 14, while walking near her home with her elder sister. Two bike-borne unidentified men took away the girl, leaving her elder sibling in shock, they said.
She ran home and informed her mother, who is hearing impaired. Unable to react instantly, the mother panicked and fainted upon understanding the situation, prompting neighbours to alert authorities, police said.
The girl’s father, Sadanand Mallik, a fisherman who was out at sea, reached home upon receiving the news. “When I reached, I found my wife unconscious. A neighbour told me that my daughter had been abducted,” he said.
Villagers launched an immediate search using flashlights and sticks, while local police were alerted.
Bhadrak Sadar SDPO Bichitranand Sethi formed four special teams to investigate the case.
Bhadrak SP Manoj Kumar Rout said, “Preliminary investigations point to a possible murder, but this will be confirmed only after the post-mortem examination report.”
The body has been sent to the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for further examination, he said.
