Nuapada: Tension gripped Haripur village after villagers spotted the body of a student of Gurukul Ashram in a well on Sunday. The student was missing from the ashram since Thursday.

Claiming that it was a case of murder and holding the ashram management responsible for it, villagers barged into the Gurukul Ashram and ransacked its premises. They shouted slogans against the Gurukul Ashram and damaged valuables.

Police rushed to the spot immediately and tried to persuade the villagers who demanded that the body should be recovered from the well only after the arrival of the family members of the deceased. The body was finally recovered with the help of the fire personnel after the deceased's uncle arrived. It was then sent to the Nuapada district headquarters hospital for post-mortem. Later, the police handed over the body to the uncle of the deceased.

The deceased has been identified as Ujjal Arya (13), a Class-VII student in the Gurukul Ashram. He belonged to Dongargarh of the neighbouring Chhattisgarh.

Ashram head Sudarshan said that he came to know about the matter when the boy was not seen in the evening prayer class on Thursday. "We didn't see him at the evening prayer on Thursday and immediately intimated his local guardian," he said.