Household items of advocate Vikram Sinha lie on the road in front of his residence in Bariatu on Tuesday. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, March 8: A group of 100 tribal women armed with axes today barged into the Bariatu residence of a Jharkhand High Court advocate, ransacked rooms and threatened family members for alleged murder of a teenaged maid four days ago.

Sixteen-year-old Anna Oraon — who had been working as a domestic help at advocate Vikram Sinha’s Shiv Sai Tower (Phase II) home for five years — was found caked in blood outside the building on March 4. She was rushed to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) by Sinha and his guards, but was declared brought dead.

The next day, the advocate lodged an unnatural death case with Bariatu police. Sinha’s statement said the girl had died after falling off the balcony of his third floor flat at the residential complex while collecting clothes that were let out for drying.

Angry over the girl’s body lying unclaimed at RIMS even after post-mortem, tribal women attacked Sinha’s residence around 7pm today.

While the advocate was not at home, his father, a retired district judge of Dhanbad, mother, wife and two children were present.

The tribal women axed the main door open, threw belongings on the road from the third floor balcony, rummaged through wardrobes and damaged furniture.

A guard at the residential complex said the mob also went looking for the advocate’s car to set it on fire. “They kept shouting that he (Sinha) had killed the maid and dumped her body outside. They accused him of converting a case of murder into that of unnatural death,” he said.

The protest quelled around 7.30pm after a riot control squad reached the spot and the local ward councillor promised action if anyone was found guilty.

Sinha senior said it was a harrowing experience. “The women barged into the house, pushed my daughter-in-law to the floor and threatened to throw my grandson and granddaughter from the third floor. balcony. The woman who was leading them is the daughter of a local political leader,” the elderly man said.

On the girl’s body lying unclaimed at RIMS, Bariatu OC K.D. Singh said: “None of her relatives turned up to give a statement in the case. We tried to locate her father in Rania, Khunti, but in vain.”