Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Thursday demanded investigation into the murder of a 25-year-old woman at Tarito village in the Kishore Nagar area in Cuttack district by a special investigation team (SIT) comprising competent police personnel.
“The Home Secretary and the Director General of Police must form a SIT of capable police officers to probe the crime,” he said at a Press conference here. Accusing the local police staff of having not come to the victim’s rescue in time, Mohapatra sought their immediate suspension.
“The incident took place between 8 pm and 10 pm. The victim’s father had approached the local police in the meantime after he failed to trace his daughter. But the police did not pay heed to his complaint” Mohapatra said.
He warned the Government of “consequences” if the police fail to arrest the culprits in the “next 72 hours”.
Notably, the body of the young woman, who was missing since September 23 night, was retrieved the next day from a canal near Haripur Bazar, 15 km from Cuttack.
The father of the woman had lodged a complaint stating that his daughter, who went to the local market to make some purchases, had gone missing.
Meanwhile, the police said prima facie evidence suggests the woman was brutally murdered after being raped. Cuttack Rural SP Gurudas Kundu said a 12-member special team including three women police officers is on the lookout for the culprits. “The offenders will be nabbed soon,” he claimed.