Girl thrashed by neighbour for ‘stealing’ flower plant sapling found hanging

The parents of the tribal girl had gone from Bhaluhuruda village under the Udala police station limits to Bhubaneswar for some work after requesting the neighbour to look after her in their absence.

Bhubaneswar: A 13-year-old girl was found hanging hours after she was allegedly beaten up by a neighbour for stealing a marigold sapling in a village in Odisha‘s Mayurbhanj district, a police officer said on Friday.

The parents of the tribal girl had gone from Bhaluhuruda village under the Udala police station limits to Bhubaneswar for some work after requesting the neighbour to look after her in their absence.

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On being informed, the police reached the village, recovered the body and arrested the neighbour, a woman.

The girl was supposed to sleep at the neighbour’s house at night during the period when her parents would be in Bhubaneswar, an officer of Udala police station, Laxmikanta Nayak, said.

It was claimed that on Tuesday evening, the girl uprooted some marigold plants from the house of the neighbour Laxmi Murmu. When Murmu came to know about it the next day, she thrashed the girl, the police officer said.

Later, the girl was found hanging by a saree in the verandah of her house.

Earlier on Wednesday, her parents received a call from Murmu that their daughter uprooted some marigold plants. They got another call later from Laxmi stating that the teenager had stolen some marigold saplings.

The parents returned home on Thursday morning and accused the neighbour of beating their daughter to death.

When asked whether it was a case of murder or suicide, the police officer said, “Local people have seen Laxmi thrashing the girl. However, the exact cause of the death can be ascertained after getting the post-mortem examination report. We are investigating all angles.” The body has been handed over to the parents after the autopsy on Friday.