A Central Reserve Police Force jawan was found murdered in Orissa's Kandhamal district as stray incidents of violence in the riot-torn area showed little signs of abating.

Buxa Singh, who hailed from Punjab and was posted in Assam, and some of his colleagues had last night gone out in plainclothes from their camp at Gundhani village to Sishapanga where they were attacked by unidentified people, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police R P Koche said.

Others managed to return to the camp unhurt, but Singh was nowhere to be found.

After intensive search of the area, police recovered the body of Singh, he said. District Collector Krishan Kumar and Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar rushed to the site immediately.

While local residents claimed tribals were behind the attack on jawans as they were angry over their behaviour, police refused to say who was responsible for the attack.

Security has tightened to prevent any flare up as tension escalated after the incident. The body of the jawan was sent to his native place after postmortem.