Rape & Murder Whiff In Puri Beach Case Fuels Netizens’ Outrage

Puri: The shoddy handling of an alleged rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl, whose mutilated body was found on Puri beach on Saturday, 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. The incident caught attention after the deceased’s parents rubbished police claims of death by drowning and alleged that she was raped and killed. 

The body of the girl from Madhya Pradesh dressed in only her underclothes was found on the beach near the Penthakata area in Odisha’s Puri.

The body of the girl, who hailed from a village in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, was found on November 26, three days after she went missing, police said.

While the police suspect the death of the woman was due to drowning in the sea, the woman’s family has alleged she was kidnapped from a hotel and later raped and killed.

The family members met Puri superintendent of police K V Singh during the day and demanded a thorough investigation into the incident.

The face of the woman was absolutely blackened, probably by chemicals like acid and her fingers were mutilated, Puri police said. It could, however, also be due to the long exposure to saline water as the body had floated face down. Her fingers may have been eaten away by some marine creature.

The father, however, claimed that acid was poured on her face by her killer to hide her identity. Acid was also poured on her back.

It was her father who had identified her from her earrings, gold nose pin, red band in her hand and a black one on her ankle.

“We have registered an unnatural death case. However, keeping in view the family members suspicions I have asked an officer of the level of deputy superintendent of police to probe into the incident,” the SP told PTI over phone.

The family members said the girl went missing on November 23 after she left the hotel room to collect their clothes that were drying outside. They alleged that the woman was kidnapped from the hotel and killed by pouring acid on her face so that she could not be recognised.

The family lodged a missing case at the sea beach police station on November 23 and left the town, the police said. The body was found three days later.

The family members also said they were informed of the body being found on the beach after the post-mortem.