The SUV, in which the body of 41-year-old Tanuja Aich was found near Samantarapur on Monday, met with an accident, police said on Tuesday.

The police, based on CCTV footage, found the SUV ramming into a truck near Samantarapur around 2am on Sunday.

However, another CCTV footage also revealed the victim’s husband Sangram Aich escaping with the five-year-old son of the couple on a motorcycle with two other men after the mishap. Both Sangram and the child have been missing after the incident.

“The CCTV footage revealed that the SUV, which was coming from a bylane, hit a truck on the main road. But, the reason behind Sangram’s disappearance, along with the child, after the mishap is yet to be clear. When we tried to locate the mobile phone of her husband, we could find him of moving outside the state,” said a police officer.

The police have also found a sword and iron rods concealed under the seat of the SUV vehicle.

“We strongly suspect Sangram being involved in criminal activity. The vehicle was registered in the name of a company S.R. Carrier owned by Sangram and his brother. The company had been into transport business in Keonjhar a few years ago,” said the police officer.

The damaged vehicle was found parked with the body few metres away from the accident spot. The woman’s head was on the driver’s seat and her body placed on the adjacent seat. The police had also found the door of the SUV unlocked. Family members of the deceased alleged that Sangram had killed Tanuja and dumped the body in the SUV. “Further investigation also revealed that the couple had a marital discord, for which they had approached Madhyam (a women support centre) run by the police last year. Sangram’s role has been suspicious in the episode,” he said.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo said they were yet to get the post-mortem report of the deceased. “The cause of death can only be ascertained after getting the report. A team has been constituted to nab her missing husband and the child,” said Bhoi.

Group clash

Tension broke out between villagers of Sarakantara and Raghunathnagar. Raghunathnagar villagers had handed over a group of Sarakantara villagers to the police after a dispute ensued between the two groups two days ago. However, soon after police released them, they allegedly hurled bombs at the other village leading to the clash.