BHUBANESWAR: The Khurda district and sessions judge, Loknath Mohapatra, on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to retired Army doctor Somnath Parida (78) after convicting him of killing his wife Ushashree and chopping her body into pieces in his bungalow in upscale Nayapalli here in June 2013.
Nayapalli Police had arrested Parida on June 22, 2013, after finding the body parts of Ushashree (62 at the time of death) stashed in 22 boxes in the couple’s house on June 21. They said he had killed her on June 3 and kept the body parts in the house, where the couple lived on their own, as he was confident they would not be discovered.
His crime would have gone unnoticed had Ushashree’s brother not visited the house on the evening of June 21. His suspicions were aroused by Parida’s furtive actions and the foul smell emanating from the house, and he informed police.
Police had conducted a polygraph test on Parida on June 29, 2013, and filed a charge-sheet in court on October 17, 2013. Since his arrest, Parida has been kept in the Jharpada Special Jail here.
Public prosecutor Sarad Chandra Samant said the sensational murder had been the result of prolonged bitterness between the couple. Parida was not on talking terms with his daughter, who then lived in the UAE. Ushashree, who would talk to their daughter on the phone regularly, had angered Parida by insisting on letting her visit the Bhubaneswar house. Matters between the couple soured further and he is believed to have killed her in a fit of rage.
“Ushashree died after being hit on the head with a blunt object,” the public prosecutor said. “I had sought capital punishment for Parida as the nature of the offence is barbaric,” he added.
Police sources said the couple’s daughter and son had both given statements against their father. They had also said Parida had planned to dispose of Ushashree’s mutilated corpse in Shirdi.
On Tuesday, Parida broke down in court after the pronouncement of the verdict. “I am innocent. I was an honest officer in the Army. I never took bribes,” he told reporters outside the court.
Parida had joined the Army as Second Lieutenant in 1970 and retired as Lieutenant Colonel in1992.
Nayapalli Police had arrested Parida on June 22, 2013, after finding the body parts of Ushashree (62 at the time of death) stashed in 22 boxes in the couple’s house on June 21. They said he had killed her on June 3 and kept the body parts in the house, where the couple lived on their own, as he was confident they would not be discovered.
His crime would have gone unnoticed had Ushashree’s brother not visited the house on the evening of June 21. His suspicions were aroused by Parida’s furtive actions and the foul smell emanating from the house, and he informed police.
Police had conducted a polygraph test on Parida on June 29, 2013, and filed a charge-sheet in court on October 17, 2013. Since his arrest, Parida has been kept in the Jharpada Special Jail here.
Public prosecutor Sarad Chandra Samant said the sensational murder had been the result of prolonged bitterness between the couple. Parida was not on talking terms with his daughter, who then lived in the UAE. Ushashree, who would talk to their daughter on the phone regularly, had angered Parida by insisting on letting her visit the Bhubaneswar house. Matters between the couple soured further and he is believed to have killed her in a fit of rage.
“Ushashree died after being hit on the head with a blunt object,” the public prosecutor said. “I had sought capital punishment for Parida as the nature of the offence is barbaric,” he added.
Police sources said the couple’s daughter and son had both given statements against their father. They had also said Parida had planned to dispose of Ushashree’s mutilated corpse in Shirdi.
On Tuesday, Parida broke down in court after the pronouncement of the verdict. “I am innocent. I was an honest officer in the Army. I never took bribes,” he told reporters outside the court.
Parida had joined the Army as Second Lieutenant in 1970 and retired as Lieutenant Colonel in1992.
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