Sandhya was murdered, allege her parents

OST Crime Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Nov 25:

Parents of Sandhyarani Samantaray, victim and whistleblower of a sex racket in the state capital who died under mysterious circumstances lodged complaints with the city Mahila Police station, State Commission for Women (SCW) and Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC) here on Monday alleging their daughter was murdered.

Sandhayrani’s family say she might have died to poisoning and urged the concerned authorities to inquire into the matter and identify the persons involved in the crime.

Sandhyarani died at the SCB Medical College and Hospital,Cuttack while undergoing treatment two hours after being admitted on Friday morning. Instead of conducting postmortem of the deceased to ascertain the exact cause of death or informing the local police about her death, authorities asked her family to take the body away as soon as possible, the mother of the deceased Sukanti Samantaray alleged.

Reports said two youths and a girl had brought Sandhyarani in a car from Bhubaneswar and dropped her at her village home on Wednesday afternoon. Later she left for a nearby town to withdraw money from an ATM but did not return.

However, on Thursday afternoon same youths dumped dropped her at her village home when she was in a critical condition and fled without giving any satisfactory answer about how she had suddenly fallen sick, said Sandhayarani’s mother Sukanti.

“She was frothing and unable to speak due to respiratory problem. We rushed her to a community health centre at Kerandia in Bahamagiri, and when her condition deteriorated she was referred to Puri District Headquarter Hospital” Sukanti said.

The doctors at the Puri hospital referred her to the SCB Hospital in Cuttack where she finally died on Friday morning. “The SCB authorities did not give us any reason of her death and asked us to take away the body soon”, she added.y.

“She has been poisoned to death by the youths who accompanied her on that day, I don’t know why they have killed my daughter. We have urged the police to inquire into the matter and nab the accused, Sukanti said.

Incidentally, Sandhyarani’s mobile phone and other valuable evidence are missing.

“She was poisoned to death by the youths. She was the sole breadwinner for the family but her parents did not have anyknowledge of her involvement in flesh trade. Police should trace her mobile phone which would help police in tracking the killers. The fact that the SCB authorities did not conduct any autopsy and asked her relatives to take away the body as soon as possible raises many questions,” said State Progressive Womens Forum chief Mamta Samantray who played a leading role in exposing the sex racket in Bhubaneswar that involved a number of very influential people including top police officials.