Keonjhar: Family of a 17-year-old girl, who was found hanging from a tree at Harichandanpur in Odisha’s Keonjhar district, have alleged that she was gang-raped and murdered.
She went missing on Monday night after stepping out of the house to relieve herself and her phone was found switched off. Her bloodstained body was found the following morning. Bloodstained male clothes and a few other items were also recovered from the scene, leading her family to suspect that she might have been raped and murder and the body later hanged from the tree to pass it off as a case of suicide.
Police have filed a case under BNS sections for gang rape and murder, along with the POCSO Act, and detained two suspects following a day-long protest by the villagers, mostly women.
Two persons have been detained in connection with the case. The family initially refused to receive the body and, along with the villagers, blocked the Naduroada-Kaliahaat Road. After police detained two persons, they relented and withdrew the blockade. We are investigating the incident from all angles. The autopsy will reveal whether it was a case of gang rape,” IIC of Pandapada police station, Laxmikant Pradhan, told PTI.
The incident has come close on the heels of the gangrape of a 20-year-old undergraduate student during a beach outing on June 15 at Gopalpur in Ganjam district, which triggered a nationwide outrage.