Odisha Woman Official Drops Daughter At School, Then Found Hanging At Home

A woman agriculture officer was found hanging in her rented house in Odisha's Bhadrak district on Wednesday, police said. Police identified the woman as Niharika Dalai, 30, a native of Randia village under Bhadrak Rural police station.

She had been serving in Basudevpur as Block Agriculture Officer (BAO) for the past two years. She was staying in the rented accommodation at Balinagar village under Basudevpur police limits along with her seven-year-old daughter.

Police said that Dalei had been on leave for the last few days. On Wednesday morning, after dropping her daughter at school, she is said to have gone shopping before returning home.

However, she did not respond to any phone calls afterwards, the police said.

When the milkman failed to get any response after repeated calling and found the door was shut from the inside, he informed the house owner. When repeated knocks on the door went unanswered, the landlord informed the Basudevpur police.

A police team, led by Bhadrak Sadar SDPO Bichitrananda Sethi reached the spot. After breaking open the locked door, they found Dalei's body hanging from an apron inside the house.

The woman was married to Satyabrata Padhi, a software engineer working in Bhubaneswar.

The police have launched an investigation to determine the exact circumstances leading to her death. The body has been sent for post-mortem examination. Further inquiry is underway, said Lopamudra Nayak, inspector in charge of Basudevpur police station.