Frustrated over marital discord, a man killed his six-year-old daughter and brutally attacked three other family members before attempting to commit suicide on Sunday morning at Baunsakhani of the Old Town area in Bhubaneswar.
The injured were shifted to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack when their conditions are stated to be critical. According to sources, Subodh Sahu had an altercation with his wife Nabanita a few days ago over his alleged extramarital affair with another woman.
Nabanita had informed this matter to other family members and cautioned her husband to mend his ways. Though Subodh denied the allegation every time, his wife did not believe him and her doubts about his affair grew stronger.
Fed up over the regular fights with his wife and other members in the family, Subodh lost his mental balance and attacked his wife, daughter Simran, elder brother's wife Ratnamani and niece Alibha with an axe. Simran died on the spot.
After committing this gruesome act, Subodh hanged himself from a ceiling fan, informed a neighbour, who first entered the house to save the injured persons.
The neighbour Pradeep Kumar Prusty, who helped the victims reach the Capital Hospital here, said Subodh's family has been staying at a rented house in the Baunsakhani area under the lingaraj police limits for about two-and-a-half years.
Subodh, who was working at a hotel in Keonjhar, had come home five days ago to observe Simran's birthday, he added.Subodh's father Dukhishyam Sahu said his son had sent him to the nearby Municipal Hospital for a checkup of his ear before preparing to commit the crime.
Another neighbour requesting anonymity said Nabanita was pressurising Subodh to live separately from his elder brother to which Subodh did not agree as he was living with his elder brother since childhood. It might be the reason behind the family dispute and the ultimate crime Subodh perpetrated, the neighbour added.
Though the exact motive of Subodh's crime was yet to be ascertained, the police confirmed family dispute as the reason behind the incident. "After investigations, we can give you the exact reason of the attack," said Twin City Commissioner of Police Dr RP Sharma.