5 detained in VLW death case

Five persons, including the husband of Haridaspur sarpanch, have been detained for questioning in connection with the mysterious death of a woman village level worker (VLW) in Jajpur district, police said.

The 31-year-old VLW, Smitarani Biswal, was found dead at a private guest house, owned by the sarpanch's husband Rupesh Bhadra on Wednesday.

People who were present at the guest house at the time of the incident were also being interrogated, said Inspector in-Charge of Dharmasala Police Station, Saroj Kumar Sahoo.

The post-mortem of the body has been conducted and the guest house where the incident took place has been put under surveillance, he said.

Forensic experts have also visited the spot.

Meanwhile, Smitarani Biswal's husband, Sushil Biswal, has demanded a high-level investigation.

"My wife cannot commit suicide. There was no problem in our family. My wife was being mentally harassed for not allowing corruption in the assigned gram panchayat. She was being pressurised to keep quiet on corruption," he said.

Alleging foul play in the death, a delegation of the BJP's mahila morcha from Jajpur submitted a memorandum to the Inspector-in-charge of Dharmasala Police Station on Thursday seeking a detailed probe into the incident.

Smitarani Biswal, a resident of Bhubanpur village in the district, had gone to Haridaspur gram panchayat to disburse old age pension to beneficiaries on Wednesday.

After disbursing pension at Bhadanga village, Biswal had gone to the guest house in Baligari area to freshen up.

She was allegedly found dead in Bhadra's personal room after some time, police said.