Khurda District and Sessions Court Judge Loknath Mohapatra ordered life term to the 78-year-old Army Doctor, Somnath Parida, after convicting him for the murder of his wife.
Lieutenant Colonel (retd.) Somnath Parida was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife, Ushasree Samal and for destroying evidence. The order had been given by a local court in Odisha's Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Since there was no eye witness present, the conviction was based on circumstantial evidence.
Parida had killed his 61-year-old wife using a steel torch in a fit of rage on June 3, 2013. He was arrested by the police after the crime was reported to the Nayapally police station. RR Barhma, the government pleader said that the incident of murder came into light after almost two weeks when the victim's daughter, who stays abroad, raised suspicion as she failed to talk to her mother over the call. Even though she insisted on talking to her mother on the call, her father didn't give her the phone.
While in suspicion, the daughter contacted her mother's brother, Ranjan Samal, and later sent him to her parents' house in IRC village area to enquire about what had happened to her mother.
On visiting the house and not finding his sister there, Ranjan Samal, in turn, informed the police suspecting that she could have been murdered. Later on, the police during the investigation found the body of Ushasree Samal brutally chopped into 300 pieces, and kept in different steel containers. Parida also poured phenyl on the body parts to kill the stench. The police also seized a chopper, a knife, and two cutters from the spot.
“ I am innocent and did not kill my wife” , said the accused while he was being taken to judicial custody. The Court has also slapped Parida with a Rs. 50,000 Fine.
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