The body of a woman who was allegedly gang-raped and murdered was found hanging inside her house Monday in West Bengal's East Midnapore district, police said.
"The body was found hanging from the ceiling. We have sent it for post-mortem. Only after the reports come, we can say if she was sexually assaulted or murdered," Superintendent of Police Sukesh Jain told IANS.
Jain said there were no injury marks on the woman's body.
"There have been contradictory claims by the woman's family. While her brother-in-law has claimed she committed suicide, her husband said she was raped and murdered. We are looking into the matter," he said.
No arrest has been made yet.
With the woman's husband being a local CPI-M leader, the party alleged the involvement of Trinamool Congress 'goons' and claimed she was assaulted and paraded naked before being raped and hanged.
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"Yesterday (Sunday), Trinamool goons entered her house and demanded Rs.12 lakh from her as a pre-condition for allowing her husband to return to the village from where he was forced to quit a year back. Later, they dragged her out of house, paraded her naked before raping and murdering her," Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Rabin Deb said.
Deb said a party delegation has left for Contai where they will hold a protest march demanding the arrest of the culprits.
Local Trinamool legislator Dibyendu Adhikari rubbished the claims.
"All the allegations are baseless. We have no connection with the crime," he said.