Odisha girl missing for 10 months found dead; 6 arrested after mystery letter

The girl had gone missing in January 2022, a week after she arrived from her residential school to spend time with her family.

Published on: Nov 9, 2022, 23:08:05 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Bhubaneswar: Six people including two minors have been taken into custody for the murder of a 17-year-old girl in Odisha’s Nuapada district who went missing in January this year after an anonymous letter mailed from Chhattisgarh’s Mahasambandh district tipped off her family about the murder, police said.

Police said her family received a letter that named five people who it alleged, had killed the girl. They were grilled by the police and led investigators to her body (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The girl’s body was exhumed on Tuesday from a paddy field after the prime accused allegedly confessed to the murder and led the police to the spot where they buried the teenager.

Nuapada sub-divisional police officer Prashant Patnaik said among the six accused was a driver, who was in a relationship with the girl. She was four months pregnant and the driver apprehended that she will try to blackmail him.

The girl had gone missing in January 2022, a week after she arrived from her residential school to spend time with her family. On January 2, she left her home while her family members were sleeping and was never found. Her father filed a formal complaint about her disappearance at the local police station but there was no progress.

Recently, her family received an anonymous letter from the Mahasamund district 100km away revealing the names of five people from the neighbouring village, saying they were her killers.

“The girl’s father approached police with the letter in which the suspects were named. During interrogation, the main accused admitted to having killed her and buried the body,” said the police officer.

Patnaik added that the girl’s father identified the body on the basis of the pullover that she was wearing when she left home. “Except the sweater, there was nothing in the body except some flesh on one arm,” he said, adding that Police said they are trying to find out the identity of the person who wrote the letter to the girl’s father so that the person can be requested to testify in the case.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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