Dhenkanal, June 10: A 25-year-old woman died in police custody in Kamakhyanagar police station last night. While police said she might have died due to illness, the family members demanded a high-level inquiry.

The deceased Mili Sahu, a murder suspect, was absconding since June 5 and was brought by the police to Kamakhyanagar police station last night.

She was found dead in the morning. The police said that she complained of pain in her abdomen and was rushed to the local government hospital where Sahu was declared brought dead.

District police superintendent of Dhenkanal M.R. Mahanty had said on June 5 that her in-laws had lodged a complaint that Sahu had eloped with a youth of their village Patharkhamba after killing her five-year-old daughter.

The police traced her in Angapara village in Angul district and a team of Kamakhyanagar police arrested her last night.

She was brought to the police station, where she died under unknown circumstances.

“We have followed all the procedures of custodial death and informed the Human Rights Commission. Her post-mortem and investigation were done according to the law and her body has been handed over to her family members. A deputy superintendent of police will also conduct a departmental inquiry in addition to a magisterial probe,” the police chief said.

He said so far no complaint either from her parents or in-laws have been lodged against the police.

Incidentally, there was no tension in the town as it normally occurs in such type of custodial deaths. Though the parents Sahu have not lodged any compliant against the police, they want an impartial inquiry into the incident as the death occurred in custody.