Giridih (Jharkhand), May 20 (IANS) The body of a girl of Class 11, who had been missing for the last two days, was recovered from the bank of the Usri river in Jharkhand’s Giridih district on Wednesday, officials said.

The incident has triggered panic in the area.

The deceased has been identified as Payal Kumari, a resident of Sirsia under the Muffasil police station limits. Police have taken the body into custody and sent it for postmortem while launching an investigation into the case.

According to family members, Payal had left home on Monday morning, informing them that she was going for tuition classes and her stitching training. She also used to teach children. Usually, she would return home by the afternoon, but when she did not come back on Monday, her family tried to contact her.

The family said Payal spoke to them in the afternoon and informed them that she was leaving from the block office area and would reach home soon. However, her mobile phone was switched off shortly afterwards. When repeated attempts to reach her failed, the family began searching for her on their own before informing the police later in the day.

Police subsequently began examining her mobile call details and questioned her friends and acquaintances.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, information was received about the body of a young woman lying near the Usri river close to the Barganda old bridge. Police reached the spot and identified the body as that of Payal Kumari.

As news of the recovery spread, a large number of people gathered at the site. The family members were inconsolable. The deceased’s cousin, Pintu Kumar Das, has demanded a fair probe and strict action against those responsible.

Sadar SDPO, Jeetbahan Oraon, and police officer Vivek Madhuri visited the spot and inspected the scene. The SDPO said that a missing report had already been registered and that all angles are being examined in the investigation.

–IANS

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