Two tribal women hockey players found hanging

Two tribal women hockey players were found hanging from a tree in Jharkhand's Simdega district, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.

The two women hockey players - Sunandini Bage (23) and Shraddha Soreng (18) - went missing on Saturday and their bodies were found hanging from a tree at Biru village in Simdega district on Sunday, the officer said.

The families of Sunandini and Shraddha alleged that they were murdered. On the basis of the complaint lodged by the family members, an FIR has been registered under IPC section 302 (murder) against unidentified persons, the officer said.

Post-mortems were conducted at Simdega Sadar Hospital on Monday and the bodies were cremated at their native places.

Superintendent of Police, Simdega, Sanjeev Kumar on Tuesday claimed that the mystery behind the death of the two sportspersons will be solved very soon.

He, however, refused to divulge whether it was a case of murder or suicide, adding that such disclosure at this juncture would adversely affect the investigations.

"We have interrogated several persons in Jharkhand and Odisha and gathered some vital clues. In fact, one of our team is still camping in Rourkela. They are expected to return in the evening.

"The post mortem reports of the deceased too are expected to reach us in the evening or tomorrow morning. Thereafter, we will be in a position to say something in definite terms," the Simdega SP told PTI.

Shraddha belonged to Patratoli village in Simdega district and was a student of a school at Birmitrapur in Sundergrah district while Sunandini was from Gipitola Lachra village in Sundergarh district of Odisha.

Both of them used to train at a hockey coaching centre in Rourkela and became friends.

"Though they did not regularly stay together, but they frequented each other's place in Simdega and Sundergarh," the SP said.