College girl’s body recovered from canal in Odisha’s Jajpur, suicide suspected

Jajpur: In yet another alleged student suicide, police recovered the body of a college girl from a canal in Binjharpur block of Jajpur district in Odisha today. The deceased was identified as Manini Jena (21), a Plus Three final year Arts student of Alakunda Girls’ College and a resident of Pritipur village.

While it is suspected that the girl died by suicide over alleged family dispute, the exact cause of death is yet to be ascertained. Police said no complaint from the family of the deceased has been filed yet.

Sources said Manini had married one Srikant Jena of Markandpur area under Jajpur police limits in May. After the wedding, with her husband’s consent, she was pursuing her college education while staying at her parents’ place while doing a computer course alongside. As Manini was not attending the computer class for the last two days, husband Srikant had recently berated her which reportedly did not down well with her.

On Tuesday, she told her parents that she was going to college. When she did not return home , family members launched a frantic search and filed a missing case with Binjharpur police. After starting investigation, cops found Manini’s bag, cycle and ID card near Simachaturi canal at Kapila Chhak and later traced her body from the waterbody. While it is suspected to be a case of suicide, police said the body was sent for postmortem and other details will emerge only after a proper investigation.

Meanwhile, the father of the deceased dismissed claims of family or marital discord. “My son in-law used to give utmost priority to our daughter’s education. We are unable to understand why she took such a drastic step,” he was quoted saying.