Puri: Four days after the body of 18-year-old girl Radhika Kushuwa of Madhya Pradesh was found on a beach in Odisha’s Puri, the postmortem report revealed that she died due to drowning.
According to sources, the preliminary investigation did not indicate any sexual assault or murder. While Kushuwa’s family members suspected foul play and alleged rape and murder, police said that they are yet to lodge a written complaint.
Radhika, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, was found lying face down in her undergarments with severe injuries on November 26. She was reportedly visiting Puri with her parents and brother and they stayed at a hotel there.
She went missing on November 23 while having gone out to pick up her clothes. When she did not return, her family began searching for her.
Her body was recovered by police on November 26. Her father Prahlad Kushuwa identified her from her earring, gold nose pin, red ribbon on her hand, and a black ribbon on her ankle after Puri on Monday.
“We found her decomposed body at an isolated stretch of the beach three days later. Her fingers were found chopped, raising suspicion that some sea creatures might have eaten them. In the hotel’s CCTV footage, we found her walking towards the beach alone early in the morning on November 23,” TOI reported a police official as saying.
Meanwhile, the matter has triggered shock and outrage on the internet. Netizens took to social media platforms like Twitter to lash out at both the local police and the mainstream media for their strange silence over the issue.
