Sambalpur: A day after the body of a 15-year-old girl was recovered from a drain in Shantinagar under Ainthapali police limits here, her kin Thursday alleged that she had been murdered. The deceased, identified as Saishraddha Mishra, was the granddaughter of Ashok Kumar Mishra and Surekha Mishra of Shantinagar. Sources said her father Ganga Prasad Mishra had died in an accident a few years back, while her mother died under mysterious circumstances in 2017. She had been living with her grandparents and was studying in Class X, according to police. Her death has raised suspicion among residents and kin, as her mother had died allegedly by suicide a few years earlier.
News of Saishraddha’s death has triggered shock and unrest across the town. Her maternal uncle, Asit Kumar Nanda, and his wife, who live in Angul, reached Sambalpur Thursday morning and alleged that the girl had been murdered.
They claimed that Saishraddha’s father, Ganga Prasad Mishra, died in an accident several years ago, and her mother’s death in 2017 was considered suspicious. A complaint had been filed at that time, and an investigation into that case remains ongoing. According to the relatives, Ganga Prasad had transferred all his property to his wife’s name before his death. They alleged that after Ganga Prasad’s death, his wife was harassed and murdered, and it was made to appear as a case of suicide. They now suspect a similar pattern in Saishraddha’s death. “Police have registered a case and launched preliminary investigation. A forensic team visited the site for examination, and officers are reviewing nearby CCTV footage,” Sambalpur SP Mukesh Kumar Bhamu said. The exact cause of death will be determined after the post-mortem report is received, police said. A case of unnatural death has been registered, and an investigation is underway.