Rumpa Roy, a 19- year girl appearing for this year’s higher secondary board examination, was found dead in her residence at Kathalhat of South Dinajpur district on Thursday.

Police suspect the girl was murdered as they found the body with multiple injury and strangulation marks. The girl’s parents have been detained.

Kathalhat is located about 50km from Raiganj, under Gangarampur sub-division.

“We suspect murder because several injury marks were spotted on the girl’s body. Her face was also struck by some heavy object,” a police source said.

During the initial investigation, it was revealed that the girl’s father Ajoy Roy, a migrant worker, had returned home from his workplace in Kerala only two days back.

Police claimed that Rumpa’s parents had admitted that they did not approve of the youth that the girl was supposedly having an affair with.

“The parents are claiming that the youth might have murdered their daughter,” said a police source.

The parents said Rumpa did not turn up for dinner on Wednesday night. They added that they, too, did not disturb her thinking that she had fallen asleep in her room after her studies.

“The parents claim that they entered the room only in the morning to find their daughter murdered,” said a source.

Palash Roy, a relative of the deceased student, said: “Whoever is involved in the murder should be punished.”

Police, after recovering the teenager’s body, sent it for the post mortem at Malda Medical College and Hospital.

Dipanjan Bhattacharya, the sub-divisional police officer of Gangarampur, said: “We have sent the body for post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death and have also started a probe.”

Killed by ‘friend’

A youth apparently killed his friend at Birpara in Alipurduar district on Wednesday night.

Sources said Pradeep Gurung, a Toto driver, hit his friend Debashish Sarkar with a sharp weapon repeatedly after a verbal spat around 9pm on Wednesday. Both were suspected to be drunk.

Sarkar was taken to the Alipurduar district hospital where he died.

Angry residents torched Gurung’s house. Gurung, however, is traceless. On Thursday morning, residents blocked the Alipurduar-Cooch Behar state highway for about 30 minutes, demanding speedy his arrest.