A half-burnt body of a woman sarpanch candidate was recovered from a forest in Gajapati district on Monday.
Mini Dalabehera, former sarpanch of Baghamari under Mohana block, had filed her nomination paper on January 12 for the post of sarpanch for the coming panchayat elections.
However, she was found missing for last two days, fuelling rumours that she had been kidnapped. Her family members had filed a missing complaint at the Chandragiri police outpost.
Acting on the complaint, police during a search operation recovered her half-burnt body from a jungle near the Sagada hill. The police sent the body for postmortem and began investigations into the incident. Sources said a spat had ensued between Mini Dalbehera and her family members over the former’s choice of politics.