Just a week after Kanchan Devi Mandal, who was set on fire by her husband and mother-in-law-succumbed to burn injuries, a 21-year-old woman was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her residence in Siraha Municipality.

Manisha Kumari Mandal of Siraha Municipality-14 was found dead in her house on Thursday night, said police. Police suspect that the victim might have been strangled to death. However, the District Police Office (DPO) in Siraha is yet to confirm the cause of the death.

Jiban Shrestha, Superinte-ndent of Police, said that they are awaiting post-mortem report to confirm the cause of the death.

According to him, the victim’s husband Ramesh Mandal and mother-in-law Tara Mandal were taken to the DPO for questioning.

Manisha’s family, however, are suspicious about the cause of their daughter’s death and have demanded an in-depth probe into the incident. They suspect that Manisha might have been killed over a dowry dispute. Raghunath Mandal, Manisha’s father, claimed that her in-laws had been exerting pressure for additional dowry. Manisha had married Ramesh in Golbazaar on February 28 this year.

“Our daughter told us over the phone that her in-laws complain of her bringing less dowry. Later she even complained that her husband and mother-in-law had started torturing her over the issue,” said Raghunath.

Police step up probe into Kanchan’s death

Police have intensified the investigation into the death of Kanchan Mandal, a resident of Kalyanpur Municipality-8 who died of severe burn injuries last week. Preliminary investigation showed that the victim’s husband Bechan and mother-in-law Surji had set her on fire on April 25. Kanchan succumbed to burn injuries at Sushma Koirala Memorial Hospital in Kathmandu, the following day. Before her death, Kanchan had told police that she was set on fire by her husband and mother-in-law. Surji was taken into custody while Bechan is at large.