Bhubaneswar, Aug. 26: Residents of Billipada near Uttara on the outskirts of the city detained the “uncle” of a 16-year-old girl who succumbed to burn injuries yesterday at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
They alleged that the girl, Koushalya Biswalwas, was set on fire by the “uncle”, who is not a relative of the girl, in collusion with the girl’s mother.
Angry residents locked up the girl’s uncle in a clubhouse, and kept him there for more than three hours. Police personnel from Uttara police outpost rescued him and handed him over to Pipli police.
The neighbours of the girl said that the girl’s family had shifted to Bilipada from Puri 10 years ago.
The so-called uncle was actually a young man whom the girl’s mother considered her brother. He stayed in the same locality.
They alleged that the mother and “uncle” of the girl killed her, because the girl had seen her mother and “uncle” in a compromising position.
“She had told the neighbours about this. Since then her mother and uncle had been torturing her. They must have killed her,” alleged Sikha Biswal, a neighbour.
They added the girl’s parents took her to Capital Hospital after she was burned on August 24. Her family members told the neighbours that the stove burst while she was cooking.
Later, she was moved to Cuttack SCB Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
“But instead of bringing the body here, they buried her in Cuttack. Her parents did not return to the village today. Her ‘uncle’ was seen in the locality and so we confronted him. He could not give us any explanation. So we detained him,” said Akhaya Kumar Bhatta, a local resident.
The inspector in-charge of Pipli police station, Amulya Champatiray, said police rescued the girl’s uncle after they were told how he had been detained by local residents.
“There is no complaint from the girl’s family. We cannot go by verbal complaints of the local residents. Even so, we have detained the person and are questioning him. We will take suo moto action against him,” Champatiray said.
Sources said the girl had sustained more than 80 per cent burn injuries.
A case of unnatural death was registered in Mangalabag police station in Cuttack and the body was handed over to her family after post-mortem.
