Cuttack:
Odisha’s 26-year-old woman cricketer Rajshree Swain was found hanging from a tree in a dense forest in Cuttack district on Friday, police said.
She was missing since January 11.
His scooty was found in abandoned condition near the forest.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Pinak Mishra said, “A case of unnatural death has been registered in the matter. We found his body hanging from a tree in Gurudijhatia forest of Athagarh area. We will investigate the death from all angles.”
Mishra said that the cause of Swain’s death would be clear after the postmortem report comes.
The cricketer from Puri district was here to attend a training camp organized by the Odisha Cricket Association for the upcoming national level tournament in Puducherry.
Swain, however, failed to make it to the 16-man squad for the tournament.
Swain’s roommate said, “She was seen crying on Wednesday evening after the names of the team members were announced and went missing from the hotel where we were all put up for a training session.”
Coach Pushpanjali Banerjee lodged a missing complaint with the local Mangalabagh police station in Cuttack city after Swain could not be reached over the phone.
His family members alleged that Swain, a right-arm fast bowler and middle-order batsman, was murdered “because there were injury marks on his body and his eyes were damaged”.
He also claimed that Swain had been denied a place in the team despite having performed better than many others selected.
Condoling the demise of the cricketer, Association CEO Subrata Behera said that the selection was done in a very transparent manner.
“If there was a bias, then how did he find a place in the 25-member probables that attended the camp,” Behera said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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