Tension grips Malkangiri after recovery of headless woman’s body

Malkangiri: Prohibitory order has been clamped in two villages in Odisha's Malkangiri district following a group clash over the alleged killing of a tribal woman whose headless body had been recovered from a river, police said on Monday.

The clash took place on Sunday afternoon when tribals of Rakhelguda village attacked MV-26 village under Korkunda Sadar Police station area. At least a dozen houses were damaged, some vehicles destroyed, and nearly four houses set on fire by the mob, police said.

Malkangiri Additional Superintendent of Police Raj Kishore Das said that the situation was under control after the deployment of additional forces of Odisha Police and BSF. The personnel of Odisha Fire Service are also deployed at the village along with Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force.

DIG (south western), Kanwar Vishal Singh, Malkangiri Collector Somesh Kumar Upadhyay and SP Vinodh Patil H have visited the affected areas and held a peace committee meeting involving both the groups.

A huge police force has been deployed in the area, an officer said.

Tension continued in the area following the recovery of the headless body of a 51-year-old woman identified as Lake Padiami, a widow from Rakhelguda village. Her body was recovered from a local riverbank, sparking anger among the local tribal communities.

Reports said tribal organisations demanded that the police immediately arrest the accused and recover the missing head. On Sunday, hundreds of tribal men and women of Rakhelguda village, carrying weapons, assembled at MV-26 village and attacked houses.

The mob forcibly entered homes, destroyed property, looted shops, and set some houses on fire in MV-26 village.

Police said that two persons have been detained while many people have fled from MV-26 village.