Bhubaneswar, Sept. 20: Jyotsna Rani Pradhan, a 30-year-old woman, was found dead in her house at Baramunda today. The death has sparked off allegations of dowry-related torture.

Her sister’s husband Umapati Pradhan has lodged a complaint with Mahila police alleging that Jyotsna’s husband had murdered her for dowry.

The Mahila police have seized the body, which had finger marks around the neck, in the afternoon. Jyotsna’s husband Hatakeshwar Pradhan is absconding. She was his second wife.

Their neighbours said that the couple used to quarrel frequently as Hatakeshwar had no regular source of income. He also used to come home drunk. Last night, they had fought again.

“They were fighting till late in the night. I tried to make peace between them and left their place around midnight,” said Lucy Pradhan, a neighbour.

Hatakeshwar had left the house in the morning. Their four-year-old son had called the neighbours who opened the door to Jyotsna’s room to find her dead. Khandagiri police were then informed of the incident.

The body was later sent to Capital Hospital for post-mortem.

On learning about the incident, relatives of Jyotsna, who hailed from Badaraghunathpur village at Balianta, came to the city.

Her brother-in-law, Umapati Pradhan, later lodged a complaint with the Mahila police alleging that Hatakeshwar had killed her for dowry.

The deceased’s sister, Sakuntala Pradhan, said their family was against Jyotsna’s marriage with Hatakeshwar. Sakuntala said the family had deposited Rs 2 lakh in her name hoping she would marry a boy of their choice, but she went against their wishes and entered into wedlock with Hatakeshwar.

“I got to know that her husband had been torturing her for dowry. He was forcing her to withdraw the money kept in her account. But my sister refused to oblige as he would have spent it on drinks,” said Sakuntala.

In another development, Nayapalli police cracked the murder mystery of Chandramani Dora, a Plus Two student, whose body had been recovered from an under-construction house at Nayapalli yesterday.

The police arrested Santosh Reddy, 30, in connection with the murder.

The police said the accused and the victim had gone to watch a palla (a form of folk theatre) show on Sunday. Reddy had planned to kill Dora suspecting him of having illicit relationship with his wife.

“During interrogation, he admitted that he had killed the teenager. We have booked him on the charge of murder,” said deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh.