In a shocking incident, three members of a family and a relative, including two minors and two women, were murdered in a seaside village in Baleswar district in the wee hours of Saturday.
The ghastly incident occurred in a tribal hamlet, Paganai, of Jaydevkasaba gram panchayat under the Sadar police station while the victims, Prativa Mandal (40), her daughter Suman (19), son Subali (17) and nephew Bibek Majhi (13), were fast asleep.
The unidentified assailants not only killed them with sharp edged weapons but also beheaded Prativa inhumanly and threw the head 200 metres away from her house.
Prativa’s husband Satyaranjan Mandal is away at his workplace in Chennai.
Eastern Range IG Ghanshyam Upadhay, SP Niti Sekhar, Sadar SDPO Sadar Amresh Panda along with the Sadar PS IIC rushed to the site with scientific team and started conducting investigation. The police seized a dragger, a chopper, a wooden stick and a 9-mm round bullet from the spot.
The police sent the bodies to the Baleswar District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) for autopsy after a primary investigation.
Bibek’s mother as well as police suspected that the incident occurred due to long-drawn rivalry between two cousin families.
“The accused persons have been identified, but they are at large. The crime occurred due to a family feud. Three squads have been formed to nab the culprits,” said the SP.
It may be noted that one Mahesh Majhi (33) was murdered and his other family members were injured in an attack by a group of miscreants when they were fast asleep in their house at Motiganj under the Town police station in the wee hours of October 27, 2016.
The group included Kharabela Majhi with whom his cousin Mahesh and his family members were having strained relationship over a land dispute.
The police had then arrested main accused Kharabela and three others. Four more persons wanted by the police in the case are still at large.