Sambalpur: Tension ran high after the nude decomposed body of a woman, who had gone missing was recovered by Dhanupalli police from a well at Bhutapada area here Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Muskan (19), wife of Imran Baig of Bhutapada.
Her father Sheikh Abdul Samad of LIC Colony in Gobindpali and other family members cried foul over the death and claimed that her in-laws killed her after throwing acid at her for dowry.
The incident triggered outrage at Gobindpali as local residents and parents of the deceased detained the body on a bridge across Malati creek and staged a road blockade demanding arrest of the accused.
Hundreds of vehicles were left stranded on both sides of the bridge as the agitators blocked the road for one hour and twenty minutes.
On being informed, Sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Brahmananda Gagarin Mohanty and Dhanupali police station IIC James Toppo rushed to the spot and tried to placate the irate residents.
The agitators relented after Mohanty assured them of arresting the accused persons within two days. Traffic resumed on the route at 6.50 PM. Police registered a case in this connection and started an investigation.
Sources said Samad while marrying off his daughter to Imran had given dowry as per his financial capacity. However, Imarn and his family members started torturing Mushkan a few months after the marriage demanding more dowry.
Mushkan narrated her ordeal before her mother following which the latter and her husband collected some money and gave it to their daughter’s in-laws.
However, her greedy in-laws were far from being satisfied and Imran resumed torturing his wife demanding `30,000 more within a fortnight. They even tried to set Muskan on fire but she escaped and came back to her parents.
Her family members lodged a complaint in Mahila police station on learning about their daughter’s ordeal.
Police called both the sides and sealed a compromise between them following which Muskan returned to her in-laws’ house.
Surprisingly, Muskan went missing four days ago but her family members were only informed about it a day later. Police registered a case and were searching for her when some people in the locality found her nude body floating in a well at Bhutapada. They informed Muskan’s elder brother Shiekh Habibulla over phone about it.
Family members and police reached the spot and recovered the body from the well. The body was being brought in an auto-rickshaw after post-mortem when her family members and residents detained it on the bridge and staged a protest. PNN