Patna, April 13: The Jehanabad town police on Saturday lodged a case of murder in connection with the mysterious death of excise department superintendent Renu Kumari, whose body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her house in Jehanabad on Friday.

Jehanabad SP Dhurath Sayali Sawlaram said that a case of murder under Section 302 of IPC was lodged with the town police station today on the statement of the deceased’s husband Vaibhav Kumar.

Kumar, who is posted as block development officer in Jharkhand’s Godda district, reached Jehanabad after receiving information about Kumari’s death.

The excise superintendent had apprehended a threat to her life from the liquor mafia in the district and told her husband that she was feeling unsafe for the past few days. “She was very upset the last time she spoke to me on the phone,” Kumar told reporters in Jehanabad.

Jehanabad district magistrate Md. Suhail, however, claimed that Kumari had never approached him for security. “She was posted here for over a year but she never complained about her security,” he said.

Sources said that Kumari was assigned two special auxiliary police (SAP) personnel. But she used them only for official purposes.

Kumari’s relatives blame the local administration. They alleged she was murdered at the behest of the liquor mafia for initiating tough action against them.

They approached sub-divisional judicial magistrate Om Prakash to allow the post mortem of the body in Patna instead of Jehanabad.

But the SDJM didn’t permit them to conduct the post-mortem outside Jehanabad. After the post-mortem was conducted at Jehanabad sadar hospital, the body was handed over to relatives. She was cremated in Patna. Excise and Prohibition department secretary Sandeep Paundrik consoled the family and promised all help.