Malkangiri: Police Wednesday recovered the severed head of a tribal woman nearly 40 kilometres from the spot where her headless body was found last week. The discovery came amid days of tension between two neighbouring villages in Malkangiri.
Police said the head was found near a riverbank close to a Kanya Ashram in Rakhelguda during a follow-up investigation. Officers rushed to the spot after villagers alerted authorities.
The torso of the woman had been recovered December 4. The missing head had fuelled fear, anger and suspicions between MV-26 and Rakhelguda villages for several days.
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The recovery came hours after tensions between the two communities began to subside. A Joint Peace Committee meeting held at the Malkangiri District Collector’s office saw representatives of both sides agreeing to end hostilities. Officials said senior officers — including the DIG and the Superintendent of Police — held detailed discussions with both groups, heard their demands and appealed for calm. No fresh incidents were reported in the last 24 hours.
Police and administrative teams also helped the woman’s family perform her last rites five days after the incident.
The unrest traces back to the beheading of 51-year-old widow, Laka Podiami, whose missing head intensified community disputes. One person, identified as 42-year-old Subha Ranjan Mandal, was arrested Tuesday on the charge of murdering the woman. Police said Mandal, a sharecropper on the family’s land, confessed to killing her and throwing both the torso and the head into the Poteru river. While the body was recovered December 4, the head remained missing until Wednesday.
The victim’s son said Mandal killed his mother after the family objected to him continuing to cultivate their land. Initially, the woman’s relatives refused to accept the body, demanding immediate arrests. They relented after counselling by senior officials.
However, the murder triggered widespread violence Sunday afternoon when tribals from Rakhelguda allegedly attacked the “Bengali-settler” village MV-26 under Korkunda Sadar police station limits. Settlers claimed that dozens of houses were reportedly damaged and many were set ablaze. Many families have since taken shelter in neighbouring settlements.
Internet services across the district were suspended and prohibitory orders imposed to prevent further escalation. About 2,000 Odisha Police and BSF personnel were deployed to maintain order. Both the tribal community and “Bengali settlers” submitted petitions demanding strict action.
The situation prompted heated discussion in the Assembly, where BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain compared the unrest to “a Manipur-like situation,” urging the Chief Minister to brief the House.
Revenue Divisional Commissioner Sangram Keshari Mohapatra said the administration has held multiple rounds of talks with both communities, who have now agreed to shun violence. Senior officers, including Odisha DGP Y.B. Khurania, visited the affected region and interacted with residents of both villages.
With the recovery of the missing head and a district-level peace agreement in place, officials say the situation is gradually returning to normal, though security and internet restrictions will continue until authorities are confident the tension has fully dissipated.
PNN