The lifeless body of a 45-year-old woman, identified as Basanti Majhi of Banuaguda village, was found hanging from a tree in a jungle, approximately 1.5 km from her residence in Nabarangpur.
According to a written complaint lodged at the Jharigaon police station, Basanti had left home around 4 PM on August 2, stating she was going to her brother Shiba Gond’s house for paddy transplanting. The next morning, local women venturing into the jungle for sanitation discovered her body suspended from a tree with a rope.
Following notification of the family, her husband, Puren Majhi, formally informed the police, prompting an investigation. The Jharigam police reached the scene, seized the body, and sent it to the Umerkote Community Health Centre for autopsy. Despite resistance from the family—who preferred the post-mortem be done locally—the body was sent to Umerkote after police mediation.
Amid public speculation over whether Basanti died by suicide or was murdered, authorities await post-mortem results and further police inquiry to uncover the truth.
