Sahibganj (Jharkhand), The body of a 20-year-old tribal mentally challenged woman was recovered inside a classroom of a primary school in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district, police said on Friday.

Barharwa sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Nitin Khandelwal told PTI that the body was found inside an unused classroom at the primary school located at Bansjori within Barhait police station limits of the district on Thursday evening.

“After getting information from locals, Barhait police station officer Pawan Kumar went to the school and recovered the body. Prima facie, it appears that the woman was throttled to death. On the basis of a complaint by the victim’s brother, we have lodged a case of rape and murder under relevant sections of BNS,” Khandelwal said.

The officer said the woman was mentally challenged and had been rescued by police and handed over to her relatives about a month ago.

“She was found loitering, and we rescued her and handed her over to her relatives a month back. We were told that she was mentally challenged and used to move around without informing her family members. We could not keep her in a women’s shelter home as she had family members,” Khandelwal said.

“The body has been sent to Sahibganj Sadar Hospital for post-mortem examination,” the police officer said.

According to the complaint lodged by the victim’s brother, a resident of Argodi under Barhait police station, she had left home on October 19, stating that she was going to her maternal uncle’s house at Khijurkhal, but had been traceless since then. It was only on Thursday that the family members came to know a woman’s body had been found inside a school classroom, and later identified it as hers.

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