In a shocking turn of events, Baharagora police on Thursday pulled out the corpse of a 60-year-old leprosy-afflicted woman from Subernarekha river, after the body was reportedly dumped into the river following denial of burial by local residents.
The deceased, identified as Chanchala Nayak, was a resident of Mohanpur village under Baharagora police station area.
Her family members reportedly dumped the body into the river after the locals refused her burial, saying they suspected her of dying from the novel coronavirus. Earlier, the body was sent to the Baharagora government hospital for Covid-19 tests. The hospital handed over the body on Wednesday after the result turned out negative.
Bharagora police station in-charge Chandrashekhar Kumar said, “In Bahragora, leprosy patients are buried as per the prevalent practice here.” But when the locals refused burial on Wednesday, the kin of the deceased transported the body on a cart to Dhanjodi area and dumped it in the river. Initially, the police were told that the corpse was dumped into a well adjacent to the crematorium.
The police started the search on Thursday and recovered from Barsol, close to the Odisha border. The body was buried in presence of police.
