Kendrapara: The Odisha Police Tuesday said that the 19-year-old female college student, whose charred body was found in her house in Kendrapara district August 6, had died by suicide and it was not a case of honour killing as alleged earlier.
A day after the body of the student was cremated, her ex-boyfriend’s family August 9 alleged that she was killed for honour, not due to self-immolation.
Kendrapara SP Siddharth Kataria said she resorted to self-immolation after being blackmailed by her ex-boyfriend who was arrested.
Her former lover Pramod Behera allegedly threatened to make her intimate photographs viral and also sent some pictures to her father, following which she set herself on fire, the police said.
Kataria said the postmortem examination report “clearly mentioned that the death took place due to ante-mortem burn injuries. The victim had suffered 95 per cent of burns and died due to this”.
The SP said that there were no other external injuries, and the report also negated the presence of poison.
FMT (forensic medicine & toxicology) doctors had also visited the spot to verify the circumstances leading to her death, he said.
The woman died between 8 am and 11 am on August 6 after her parents left home around 7.40 am. They returned at 11.30 am and found her in a charred state, he said.
“The deceased’s phone was engaged till 8.30 am as per the call detail record. We now have scientific evidence and the postmortem report. Further investigation will be conducted to ascertain how she procured the inflammable material,” the SP said.
The victim’s father had alleged that she took the extreme step following blackmail threats from her ex-boyfriend.
He also alleged that the police did not accept her FIR six months ago for which the incident escalated and finally ended with the suicide of his daughter.
Following the father’s allegation, ASI of Pattamundai (Rural) police station Saliendra Mohan Palei was transferred.
