On 24 November, the Raighar Police in the Nabarangpur district in Odisha excavated the dead body of a 21-year-old girl named Tilabati Gond from a forest close to Murumadihi village under Umerkote block. Shockingly, the body was reportedly discovered by them in 31 pieces during exhumation. The victim was a resident of Baghabeda village. Furthermore, salt was applied to the corpse to hasten its decomposition. It has been alleged a man with whom she had a relationship and his wife killed her as she was insisting on marrying him.
The deceased’s family stated that on 22 November she left her house saying that she was heading to the neighbourhood market. They became concerned when she did not return till late at night and reported the missing person to the local police. The police, townspeople and family members looked everywhere the following day for her, but to no avail.
In the meanwhile, some youths spotted the body buried in the ground the next day as the right foot was sticking out. Blood stains were also spotted on the ground. The victim was killed and buried close to Murumadihi village in a forest. The villagers called the cops right away. Following this, her father Luduram Gond registered a murder case on 25 November at the Raighar Police Station.
A scientific team and a squad from the Raighar Police Station made it to the forest. Thirty-one parts of the missing woman were excavated from a specific site after digging.
The instance is believed to have been the result of a fallout romantic relationship, according to a police source. A source unveiled that the victim spent almost the entire last two years romantically involved with Chandra Rout who was a married man. She went to his house which is around ten kilometres from her own on 22 November night and asserted that she wanted to tie the knot with him after which he and his spouse allegedly killed her devising a scheme to eliminate the girl for good. They then dismembered her body before carrying it to the forest and burying it there.
The couple from Murumadihi village has reportedly been taken into custody by the police and is being questioned at the police station. “A man named Chandra Rout and his wife killed Tilabati on Thursday night. The girl was in love with Chandra and always insisted he accept her as his wife. Since the man was married, he started ignoring her request,” alleged a villager.
He added, “On the fateful day, she came to his house and insisted on staying with him. The couple, in a bid to get rid of her, killed her and chopped off her body into pieces for easy dumping. When the police exhumed the body, it was found to have been cut into 31 pieces. We demand exemplary punishment to be handed down to the culprits and justice to the deceased woman’s family members.” Kesnath Gond, brother of the young girl pleaded, “We can’t say who has murdered her but we want justice.”
“A villager named Luduram Gond had lodged a complaint that his daughter had been murdered and buried. On the basis of his complaint, we launched an investigation and exhumed the body today. In this connection, we have detained two persons,” said the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Aditya Sen. The Raighar police have lodged a case (No-206/2023) in accordance with Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (evidence destruction) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and have sent the body for a post-mortem.
