A retired army doctor was arrested for allegedly murdering his wife after recovery of her dismembered body parts from their house here, police said today.
Somnath Parida (72), a former Lt Colonel in the Army, was taken into custody last night after police found the chopped body parts of his wife Ushashri (62) kept in big metal boxes from their residence at the posh Nayapalli area.
Parida was arrested and a case of murder under section 302 of IPC registered against him, Additional Commissioner of Police Santosh Bala told reporters here.
Though the accused claimed that his wife had committed suicide before he chopped her body parts, he has been booked for murder and investigation is on, she said.
Several sharp-edged weapons and other equipment apparently used for cutting the body were also seized, police said.
Postmortem on the body was conducted and forensic tests would be carried out for ascertaining the actual age of the deceased, said Achyutananda Baliarsingh, Assistant Director of State Forensic Science Laboratory.
Experts would also conduct DNA and blood grouping tests of the deceased, said Baliarsingh, who visited the site along with a team of forensic experts.
The incident was suspected to have occurred about a fortnight ago. But it came to light only yesterday after Parida's brother-in-law visited the house along with other relatives to inquire about his sister who did not respond to repeated phone calls from their children staying abroad.
As Parida did not open the door, the relatives attempted to open a window and peep inside when they smelt stench emanating from the house, police said.
After being informed by them, police swung into action and found the source of the stink coming out of two tin boxes which contained small steel containers with human parts preserved inside, they said.
"Body parts were preserved with chemicals in 22 steel containers and kept in two big boxes," the ACP said adding that Parida himself showed them the places where body parts were kept.
Though family dispute was suspected to have led to the incident, police said some clues to the motive behind the crime could be obtained after the son and daughter of the couple who are staying abroad arrive here.
