Police officials at the spot from where the body was recovered. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Dec. 2: Mystery shrouds the death of a 42-year-old woman, whose decomposed body was recovered by Mahila police from the septic tank of her house at Friends Colony near Bajrakabati Road here today.

The deceased, Sabita Patra, had been missing since November 22, while her family members alleged that her husband Radhakant Pradhan, 45, had murdered her for dowry.

A kin of the deceased said Radhakant, a local businessman, had been torturing Sabita since a year after their marriage in 2008 and putting pressure on her to get Rs 10 lakh from her family.

Radhakant has been detained in connection with the incident.

Sabita’s family members also suspect Radhakant’s illicit affair behind the murder and demanded a detailed probe into the incident.

The couple were staying at their house at Friends Colony, while a play school and a tutorial centre were also operating from their two-storey residential building.

“We suspect that the woman has been murdered. Her decomposed body was sent for post-mortem after it had been recovered from the septic tank in the morning,” said assistant commissioner of police Sitaram Satpathy. A senior police official said a dupatta of the deceased was also recovered from the tank.

On November 24, Sabita’s family had lodged a missing complaint with local Mangalabag police station. At that time, though the cops had searched the house, they could not trace her.

Later, based on the dowry torture complaint, the case was subsequently handed over to Mahila police station the same night.

The family members alleged that Sabita’s husband had killed her and later disposed of the body in the septic tank. The body was recovered after Radhakant had informed the police about some foul smell coming from the house last evening.

“Radhakant, who had been demanding a share from her ancestral property for the past two years, used to torture my sister,” said Sabita’s brother Anil Patra.

Anil said they had contacted Sabita over telephone for the last time on November 22, while no communication could be established with her since then.

“When we had asked Sabita’s husband about her whereabouts, he said she might have gone to her parents’ house at Jobra and he had no information about her,” said Sabita’s sister Kabita Patra.