Bhubaneswar, May 18: The Mahila police today recovered the body of a 29-year-old woman who was found hanging from the ceiling fan at her in-law’s house in Harachandi Sahi under Lingaraj police station area.

While the woman’s in-laws claimed that her death was a suicide, her mother alleged that she was murdered. The Mahila police have arrested the husband.

According to sources, the woman, identified as Bikasini Sarangi, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom.

The woman’s mother, Bishnupriya Sarangi, who is a widow, said her son-in-law, Subash Dash, had informed her that Bikasini had committed suicide at night.

Bishnupriya, who stays at Pokhariput area, rushed to her daughter’s house and found her hanging by a rope from the ceiling.

“When I reached their house I found my daughter was still hanging from the ceiling. But her knees were touching the ground. I suspected foul play in her death and informed the Lingaraj police,” said Bishnupriya.

The Mahila police was informed about the incident this morning.

They rushed to the spot and recovered the body from the house and sent it to the Capital Hospital for a post mortem examination.

Police also detained the dead woman’s father-in-law and mother-in-law. Her husband was arrested later, following a complaint from the victim’s mother.

We have booked the husband under sections 302 (murder), 498 (a) (husband or relatives of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) and 304 (b) (dowry death) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the victim’s mother, her daughter had married Subash two years ago and they had a 10-month-old daughter.

While Bikasini was a clerk in Naharakanata high school, her husband did not have a job.

Bishnupriya alleged that her daughter’s husband and in-laws were torturing her for dowry.

“My daughter had told me once that her husband wanted money to start a business and he was torturing her for this.

“He was also forcing her to ask us to sell the plot of land we have in Pokhariput area, which my daughter did not want,” said Bishnupriya.

She also alleged that her daughter was killed by her husband though her in-laws kept on saying that she committed suicide in her bedroom when the family members were in another room.

The investigating officers said the circumstances indicated that the deceased was murdered as her knee was touching the ground.

“We are waiting for the post mortem report to arrive at a conclusion,” said a police officer.

Mahila police sources said that the husband would be produced in court tomorrow.