A 62-year-old retired government employee allegedly stabbed his wife to death in a fit of rage in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, before locking up their two-storey house and heading to his daughter’s house to deliver her. $25,000 in cash and gold jewelry. The accused, Debaraj Sarangi, later entered the police station and confessed to killing his wife, Priyampada Sarangi (55), after she tried to stop him from leaving their house.
The incident took place at the couple’s residence in Swastik Nagar, under the airport police station limits, soon after they had breakfast.
According to Dipika Debi Roy, inspector of the airport police station, an altercation broke out when Debaraj tried to leave the house earlier in the morning. The police inspector said: “During the quarrel, Debraj assaulted his wife with hand blows and strangled her, causing her to lose consciousness. Then he stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife in her face and neck, which led to her death due to severe bleeding.”
After the attack, Sarangi collected money and ornaments but did not disclose the crime to his daughter when he handed her over to her residence in Patrapada.
He then entered the police station and allegedly confessed to attacking his wife.
A police team rushed to the house and found the woman lying in a pool of blood inside the bedroom. Police confiscated a bloodstained knife and two mobile phones from the scene.
Officials said Sarangi suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, cirrhosis of the liver, and was suffering from mental stress. His daughter told police he had not been sleeping much in the days leading up to the accident.
A case has been registered under Section 103(1) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on charges of murder.
