Angul, July 19 : The body of a 20-year-old girl was found at a village near Siarimalia reserve forest here yesterday.

Eyewitnesses said the body was found semi-naked and it bore injury marks. There were strangulation marks on the girl’s throat. Local residents suspected that she might have been sexually assaulted before being murdered.

The victim was a labourer working for a contractor in a nearby industry. On Tuesday morning, she went out of her house at Jhintipal village, saying her family members that she was going for a health check-up at a local hospital. She had not been going to work for the last few days.

A written complaint, lodged by the girl’s father with Chhendipada police station, said she was carrying Rs 40,000 in cash. “On Tuesday morning, she told us that she was going to a hospital. We got information from the police that her body was lying in the jungle, 10km from Jhintipal. She took Rs 40,000 without informing us. My daughter has been killed and we do not know the motive,” her father told the police.

The police suspected that someone might have lured the girl and they were planning to run away. The person seemed to have strangulated her with her clothes. “We have found no sign of rape, but it was a fact that she died because of strangulation. It will be known only after we receive the post-mortem report. We have not found cash from the spot. Her chappals were lying near the body,” said Dolgobinda Bhoi, inspector in-charge of Chhendipada police station.

Sub-divisional police officer S. Mahapatra expressed hope that the police would crack the case and arrest of the culprits soon.