Body retrieved from funeral pyre, sent for post-mortem

Balasore (Odisha): The body of a man was retrieved from a funeral pyre in Balasore district, after his daughter alleged that her father had died under mysterious circumstances.

The body of Narendra Patra (81) of Nischintapur Sahi has been sent for post-mortem and a case of unnatural death registered, Inspector in-charge of Nilagiri police station, Ramesh Singh, said. The man was missing for three days and his body was found from a deserted bushy field near his village in a decomposed state yesterday, the police said.

When Patra s elder son took the body to a cremation ground for the funeral rites yesterday and the pyre was about to be lit, the daughter of the deceased and her husband reached the spot and objected to the cremation alleging that her father had died under mysterious circumstances.

She suspected possible foul play in his death, the police said. They informed the police following which sub-inspector Dinabandhu Mahanta of Nilagari police station rushed to the spot, seized the body and sent it for postmortem, the police said.