Berhampur: A 40-year-old man was hacked to death allegedly by his 35-year-old wife in Odisha’s Ganjam district over a marital feud, police said Wednesday.
The incident took place at Gopalpur in the Beguniapada police station area in the district Tuesday night.
Police recovered the body of the deceased, identified as Narayan Bhuyan, from his house Wednesday and sent it to MKCG Medical College and Hospital here for post-mortem examination, an officer said.
The woman, a mother of two children, was detained, and an axe and brick pieces used in the crime were seized, Purushottampur Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Deepak Kumar Mishra said.
During the preliminary investigation, it was found that the woman had pushed her husband after a heated exchange of words. When he fell down on the floor in the backyard of the house, she hit his head with a stone, he said.
Then, she dragged him into the house and hacked him with an axe and hit him with bricks, Mishra said.
Though the exact reason behind the brutal murder was yet to be ascertained, police suspected that the woman might have killed her husband as he doubted her character, he said.
Police also suspect the involvement of other persons in the murder, the officer added.
“So far, we have identified only one accused, the woman. Investigation is underway to find out the exact cause behind the murder and whether other persons were involved in the incident,” the SDPO added.
He said the police have registered a murder case with the Beguniapada police station after the deceased’s mother, Nisha Bhuyan, lodged an FIR.
The couple has two children — a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son. Due to the marital feud, the couple had been living separately for the last few years. While their son was staying with the father, the girl was living with the mother, he said.
The woman was working as a daily labourer in Puri, while her husband was working in Surat and had come to the village recently, the officer added.
PTI