Body of a 41-year-old woman was found inside a parked vehicle under mysterious circumstances near Samantarapur in the Lingaraj police station jurisdiction on Monday morning.

A family member of the deceased, identified as Tanuja Aich, alleged that her husband had killed her and dumped the body in the SUV.

The incident came to light after some local residents spotted the woman inside the SUV. While the bonnet of the vehicle was damaged, hinting at a possible road accident, the woman’s head was on the driver’s seat and her body placed on the adjacent seat.

“We spotted the damaged car parked in a bylane and the woman inside it. Initially, we had thought she was sleeping inside the car, but later suspecting foul play, we informed the police as she did not respond to our calls,” said an eyewitness.

The police rushed to the spot and found the lock of the SUV open. The cops then took out the body and found skid marks of the tyres a few metres away from the spot, where the car was parked. The police also found cosmetics and clothes of the deceased from the vehicle. However, no bloodstain was spotted inside the vehicle.

Senior police officials, including deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo, visited the spot. Further investigation revealed that the

SUV was registered in the name of one S.R. Carrier owned by the deceased’s husband Sangram Aich, a resident of BJB Nagar and a contractor by profession.

The police said investigation revealed that the deceased had a strained relationship with her husband for the past few years.

“The couple have a five-year-old son, but both the husband and the son have been missing after the incident. We are trying to trace them,” said a police officer.

Though no visible external injury mark was found on the deceased’s body, a portion of the head of the victim was swollen.

“If the vehicle met with an accident leading to the death of the woman, then why would the driver dump the vehicle?” asked a police officer.

The deputy commissioner of police said they were waiting for the postmortem report to ascertain the cause of death. “We are also going through the CCTV footage of nearby areas to identify the person, who was driving the SUV,” said Sahoo.

Narendra Jena, a relative of the deceased, however, alleged that Tanuja’s husband had killed her. “We strongly suspect that he killed her and then dumped the body in the car to give it the look of an accident. The police must conduct a thorough probe,” said Jena.