A shocking case has surfaced from Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, where the wife of a village head was found dead under suspicious circumstances inside her own home. The half burnt body of the woman was recovered from the toilet of the house in Bedupar Mustakil village, under the Tarayasujan police station area, on Saturday, triggering panic in the locality and setting off a police investigation.
Body found in toilet after villagers spotted smoke
The deceased has been identified as Manju Devi, the 40 year old wife of Awanish Kushwaha, the village head or gram pradhan of Bedupar Mustakil. The incident came to light around 10 am on Saturday when villagers noticed smoke suddenly rising from the pradhan's house. Fearing something was wrong, they rushed to the spot and found Manju Devi's charred body lying inside the toilet. As word of the incident spread, a crowd gathered outside the house. Villagers immediately alerted the Tarayasujan police station, and a police team reached the scene without delay to take charge of the situation.
Family claims suicide but cannot explain the reason
During initial questioning, family members told police that Manju Devi had set herself on fire and taken her own life. However, when pressed further, they were unable to give a clear explanation for what could have driven her to take such a drastic step. This gap in their account raised doubts about the suicide claim right from the start.
Brother Rajan alleges murder, files written complaint
As soon as news of Manju Devi's death reached her parental family, her brother Rajan rushed to the village. On arriving at the scene, he expressed strong suspicion over the circumstances of his sister's death and rejected the family's suicide theory. Rajan filed a formal written complaint, known as a tehrir, at the Tarayasujan police station, demanding a fair and impartial investigation into the case along with strict action against anyone found guilty.
All eyes on the postmortem report
Police have taken custody of Manju Devi's body and sent it for a postmortem examination. Nitin Raghunath Srivastava, the station house officer of Tarayasujan police station, said the case appears suspicious on the face of it. He added that the postmortem report is awaited, since the exact cause of death will determine what legal action follows. According to SHO Srivastava, police are closely examining every aspect connected to the incident, and the picture will become clearer once the postmortem findings are in, based on which the next course of action will be decided.
