Jaleswar: The daughter-in-law of the vice-chairperson of Jaleswar Municipality was found hanging under suspicious circumstances Wednesday morning, with the woman’s parents alleging that she had been murdered over dowry and for giving birth to a baby girl.
According to reports, Namita Kamila, 24, the daughter-in-law of Jaleswar Municipality vice-chairperson Pushpapriya Kamila, was found hanging in the bedroom at her in-laws’ residence in Patharpura under Ward No. 4 of Jaleswar Municipality in Balasore district around 10am. She was immediately rushed to GK Bhattar Hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival. Namita’s in-laws claimed she died by suicide after tying a noose around her neck. However, a complaint was lodged by Sumitra Paul, one of the relatives of the deceased, with Jaleswar police, alleging that she was murdered and the body was hanged to make it appear like a suicide. Namita, a native of Chudamanipur Chakabishnu, was the daughter of Jaladhar Pradhan. She had married Ritesh Kamila, the son of Pushpapriya, in 2022 following an affair. The marriage was solemnised as per Vedic rituals.
Since then, she has lived in a joint family with her husband, in-laws, uncle-in-law, aunt-in-law, and sister-in-law. Ritesh runs a utensils shop at Jaleswar market. Namita had given birth to a baby girl 10 days ago. Her parents alleged that the birth of the baby girl led to intensified harassment by her in-laws. They further claimed that her in-laws had been torturing her mentally and physically, eventually leading to her murder. Following the complaint, Jaleswar police detained Namita’s husband and her uncle-in-law for questioning. The body has been sent to GK Bhattar Hospital for a post-mortem. Police have registered a case (280/25) as per the complaint and began an investigation.
