Keonjhar: The body of a woman lecturer at Keonjhar Women’s College was recovered from a building on Mining Road here Wednesday morning, prompting police to register a murder case and arrest a local transport body officer-bearer.
Police identified the deceased as Priyanka Das, 30, a guest faculty at the Home Science department of the college and a native of Talapada village under Gopalpur police station in Balasore district.
Priyanka’s body, which bore injury marks on the neck, was recovered and sent to the district headquarters hospital for postmortem.
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The body was handed over to her family members after the conduct of the autopsy.
The incident sent the chatters abuzz as the building from where the body was recovered is reportedly owned by Rudra Prasad Mishra, treasurer of the district truck owners’ association.
Police suspect that Priyanka and Mishra, a native of Keonjhar Old Town, were in a live-in relationship.
According to Keonjhar Town police station inspector-in-charge Srikant Sahu, the victim’s uncle Hemendra Prasad Das and aunt Padmaja Das lodged a complaint alleging that Mishra had raped and murdered Priyanka.
Hemendra and Padmaja told the police that they received a phone call from a person, identifying himself as a lecturer, Wednesday morning.
The caller said Priyanka collapsed while locking her room in the morning and was declared dead at the hospital.
Based on the complaint, police registered a murder case (974/2025) under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and launched an investigation.
Mishra has been arrested in connection with the case, police said, adding that he would be sent to the court Thursday.