Young woman raped and murdered in Orissa

A young woman was allegedly raped and murdered inside a temple premises in Nilagiri area of Orissa's Balasore district, the police said today.

"The 23-year-old woman was found dead in the premises of a half-built temple last evening. Preliminary inquiry suggested that she was raped before strangulation," Sub-divisional Police Officer of Balasore Sadar, Kailash Chandra Parida said.

"The incident appeared to have taken place between 4 pm and 6 pm yesterday. We suspect more than one person were involved," he said.

The woman used to go to the temple daily for cleaning the premises and keep fresh water there. Though the temple structure was not completed, work was in progress to install a
deity soon after the completion of the construction, Parida said.

The incident came to light when some locals found her body there, the police said.

A case has been registered in Nilagiri police station and investigation is on though no arrest has been made so far, they said.

DIG (eastern range) Yaswant Jethwa is personally supervising the probe, sources said.