Post News Network
Kantapada, Jan 31: In a horrific case of brutality, a young woman was burnt to death by her husband and his family for not bringing enough dowry, at Tirthapada village under Gobindapur police jurisdiction Friday night.
The deceased woman was identified as 27-year-old Swarnalata Behera, a native of Bamburi village under Kandarpur police limits. Her murderers are yet to be arrested and are on the run from police. A complaint was lodged by Swarnalata’s brother Prafulla acting on which police registered a case and sent her body to SCB Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem.
Prafulla said his sister married accused Basant Behera June 22 last year. Swarnalata’s family had arranged for cash, jewellery and household items in the form of dowry to the best of their extent but that was not enough to satisfy her in-laws who started torturing her for more dowry soon after the marriage.
After getting to know of the torture that his daughter was facing on a daily basis at the hands of her in-laws, Swarnalata’s father Buddheswar went to Tirthapada four days back to take his daughter home with him. He was however shown the door by Swarnalata’s in-laws, and had to return home without his daughter. “I didn’t know that was the last time I’d be seeing my daughter,” said Buddheswar, close
to tears.
“Basant phoned me at around 4 am Saturday saying my sister was unwell. I rushed to their place only to see my sister’s charred body on the floor,” said an inconsolable Prafulla.
Cuttack Sadar SDPO Nrusingha Swain and additional tehsildar Sanjiv Patel reached the village accompanied by a forensic team to launch an investigation into the matter.
Inspector in-charge Jugal Kishore Das said a manhunt has been launched and assured that the accused will be arrested soon.