Bhadrak: A man, identified as Arjun Sahu from Kendarapara came to Bhadrak Monday with his 90-year-old mother from Kuntala. However, he abandoned her there before fleeing.
Arjun accompanied by his son brought Kuntala from Kanijari village in Kendrapada district and dropped the elderly woman at an Aahar centre at Chandbali in Bhadrak district.
Arjun then allegedly left from the Aahar centre and returned home, leaving his mother to her own fate. The woman kept waiting for her son to return, but when he didn’t return till evening, she panicked and started crying. The woman caught the attention of the staffers in evening when the centre was about to close.
Kuntala was sitting in a corner and sobbing. Out of sympathy, some of them offered her food and learnt about the inhuman ordeal which she survived. The staffers immediately alerted the district administration which contacted the elderly woman and recorded her details. “My son and daughter-in-law used to torture me. My son brought me and asked me to stay here and left immediately,” said Kuntala. After the intervention of local officials led by Tehsildar, the woman was admitted to the hospital and she is currently under observation.
However, Arjun’s wife and Kuntala’s daughter-in-law Kamali denied the allegations that they are torturing her and claimed that she is speaking nonsense because of the weakened mental condition due to old age. She said her husband along with her son had gone with the elderly lady to watch a fair in Chandbali when Kuntala complained that her legs are aching and asked Arjun to leave her at the Aahar centre and take her home after watching the fair.
Accordingly, Arjun left Kuntala at the spot and went to watch the fair which lasted till the morning. Upon returning he did not find his mother at the spot and returned home believing that she may have come back to their house on her own.
