Bhubaneswar, April 16: The Orissa Women’s Commission today said they were disappointed with their Andhra Pradesh counterpart in the probe into the mysterious death of noted Oriya novelist and Jnanpith awardee Pratibha Ray’s daughter-in-law.

Sharmishtha Mohanty, the novelist’s elder daughter-in-law and a software engineer by profession, died under mysterious circumstances on March 24 this year after she fell down from the fifth floor of her house at an upscale apartment in Hyderabad. Sharmishtha was married to Anvesh Ray, the eldest son of the novelist, in 1998 and was seven months pregnant when she died.

Though her parents did not lodge any complaint her uncle — a doctor — had complained to the Orissa Women’s Commission raising questions about the death.

The Commission, which had requested its Andhra Pradesh counterpart to inquire into the case, was disappointed with the 8-page report that reached them today. “The report does not contain essentials facts, including a detailed post-mortem and viscera reports,” said commission chairperson Namita Panda.

Panda said the commission did not have enough staff to spare who could go to Hyderabad and pursue the case. “That’s why we asked the Andhra Pradesh Women’s Commission to look into the matter.”

Incidentally, the report also contains a statement by P.R. Mohanty, the father of the victim admitting that he does not hold his son-in-law responsible for the death. Mohanty is the state’s principal chief conservator of forests.

But Sharmistha’s kin have been alleging foul play. “She spoke to me a day before her death and said she was scared. I thought she was nervous with her pregnancy,” said her uncle Arabinda Mohanty.

Pratibha Ray has reportedly threatened to file a defamation suit against them for making “false and baseless allegations” against her family. She was not available for comments.