Kendrapara: In a gruesome incident, a woman was burnt to death allegedly by her in-laws over dowry demands at Merda village under Deulapada panchayat of Mahakalapara block in Kendrapara district late Saturday night.
The victim was identified as Deeptimayee Das (25), wife of Himnshu Das (30) in the village. Locals noticed the cowshed in flames and tried to douse the fire in vain Sunday morning.
Later, fire personnel reached the spot and doused the fire but by then the woman had already died. Police rushed to the spot and recovered her charred body from the cowshed over a complaint filed by her uncle.
Two crowbars and an iron bar recovered near her body have sparked surprise among the residents which is indicative of serious assault of the victim before being burnt to death.
Mahakalapara IIC Shyamaghana Behera, additional tehsildar Prasant Moharana and a forensic team from Kendrapara conducted a spot inquiry of the incident. A case was registered under dowry act and the body was sent for post-mortem. Her husband and sister-in-law are absconding after the incident.
Sources said Deeptimayee, daughter of Nira Das of Janratithi village under the block married Himanshu a year back.
She was expecting a happy married life but her ordeal began after her in-laws including her husband started torturing her demanding additional dowry.
Fed up, she came to stay at her native village but returned after three months after her father reached an agreement with her in-laws assuring to fulfill their demand.
However, her husband Himanshu, mother-in-law Dula and sister-in-law kept on torturing her for dowry. They finally decided to eliminate her and burnt her to death after her delayed in meeting their demands, her uncle has alleged. PNN
