Kendrapada: A 23-year-old woman, who went missing from her village in Jagatsinghpur district on Monday evening, a day after her engagement, was found dead in a field on Tuesday evening, police said.The woman had left home to visit a friend in the village but did not return at night. After a search yielded no results, her father lodged a missing person complaint at Jagatsinghpur police station on Tuesday.Following the recovery of her body with injury marks later in the evening, the victim’s father filed an FIR, alleging that a neighbour murdered her to avenge a long-standing land dispute between the two families. He also alleged that the neighbour was opposed to her marriage and was angered by the betrothal ceremony held in the village on Sunday.Police rushed to the spot, seized the body and sent it to the district headquarters hospital at Jagatsinghpur for post-mortem examination. “The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy,” said Jagatsinghpur sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Rashmi Ranjan Das.“We have not ruled out the possibility of sexual assault, but this can be confirmed only after autopsy and forensic examination,” he added.Sniffer dogs and a scientific team have been deployed for investigation, while CCTV footage from nearby areas is being examined. Senior police officers have been camping at the spot since Tuesday evening to supervise the probe, police said.
