Hinjilicut: The body of a young woman who was previously found buried at a cremation ground near Mahulapalli village in Hinjilicut locality of Ganjam district has been identified as Barsharani Purohit. Police have arrested two persons in connection with alleged murder of the victim.

The two arrested are the prime accused’s brothers namely Santosh Behera and Sushant Behera, both from Kumbhar Sahi of Gurunthi village under Nimakhandi police limits of the district. Police have forwarded the duo to court, Aska SDPO Umashankar Singh said in a presser held here today.

Hinjilicut police had earlier registered an unnatural death (U/d) case which has been converted to a murder case. The 20-year-old woman from Borigaon panchayat had a male friend identified as Prashant Behera who is the key accused. He buried her body at the cremation ground to destroy the evidence. Prashant had hacked the woman to death with the help of a hammer on the intervening day.

A case (No-551/2023) was registered and a detailed probe initiated, which is underway. The crime scene was recreated by the probe team.

It is pertinent to mention, a few residents of Mahulapalli had spotted a freshly-created mound near the village cremation ground in the morning. Suspecting something unpleasant, they informed about it to the local sarpanch and the panchayat samiti member.