Man ‘beats’ wife to death, later kills self in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In an unfortunate incident, a man allegedly beat his wife to death following a family dispute and later died by suicide at their residence in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district on Sunday.

The incident took place at Akhuapal panchayat under the Dadara Ghati outpost of Parjang police station in Dhenkanal district.

According to the report, the man was identified as Ratnakar alias Mithun Naik,35, while his deceased wife was identified as Rasmita Naik,30.

“The couple engaged in a heated argument over some issues late Saturday night. In a fit of rage, the enraged husband assaulted the wife with a heavy wooden stick, resulting in her death. Following the death of his wife, a remorseful husband later committed suicide,” said Chittaranjan Behera, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer, Kamakhyanagar, Dhenkanal, on Sunday.

Locals claimed that the couple reportedly had three daughters from their marriage. Ratnakar, who used to work as a daily wage labourer, often engaged in quarrels with his wife under the influence of alcohol. Late on Saturday night, he again quarrelled with Rasmita over some past issues and later allegedly assaulted her with a wooden plank in a sudden fit of rage.

After the death of Rasmita, Ratnakar took his three daughters to the house of his younger brother, who, along with his family, was away at the time. The deceased Ratnakar later left the daughters inside his brother’s house and locked the door from outside. He subsequently died by suicide by hanging himself from a tree in front of his house, reportedly out of remorse.

Upon being informed, the local police, along with the scientific team, reached the spot and launched an investigation. The bodies of the couple were later sent to Parjang Community Health Centre for postmortem. A case (491/26) has also been registered in this regard at the Parjang police station on the basis of a report by the deceased Ratnakar's sister.

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