A 25-year-old Hindu woman’s half-naked body was found in a cornfield just 200 meters from her home in Bhuttakhet, raising concerns about women’s safety in the area. The incident occurred just 15 days after the murder of a minor girl in Malda.

Family members and villagers suspect that the woman was gang-raped before being killed. They have filed a case of unusual death at the Mothabari Police Station. Police arrived at the scene upon receiving information about the body and sent it for post-mortem. They are awaiting the report and investigating the motive behind the murder.

According to sources, the lower part of the woman’s body was uncovered, and there were cut marks on her entire body. Her private parts were also injured, as confirmed by police sources. Despite being married, the woman did not live with her husband and did not have any children.

The woman’s father works as an agricultural worker, and the family is economically poor, according to the police. The woman’s mother said that everything was normal until yesterday and there were no signs of any violence. She mentioned that the village celebrated Saraswati Puja with joy the previous day.

The mother recalled that her daughter seemed happy during the celebrations. She last saw her daughter heading to the washroom yesterday evening. Later, when her son went looking for her to share some khichuri he had bought, she was nowhere to be found. Despite searching all night, she remained missing.

In the morning, farmers discovered her body in the cornfield and alerted them, the mother said. Police sources mentioned that there were rumours suggesting that the woman had severed ties with her husband and returned to her father’s house.