Bhadrak: In a gruesome incident, a man allegedly beat his wife and mother-in-law to death over a family dispute in Balimunda panchayat area under Basudevpur block of Odisha’s Bhadrak district. Though the murders were committed on September 27, it came to the fore on Thursday after the accused confessed his crime.
According to reports, Yamuna Samal and her daughter Kaushalya Gayen had gone to Panchagheria village in Badhabelisahi to apply for the benefits of Subhadra Yojana. When the duo did not return home till late at night, the family searched for them but could not trace their whereabouts. Later on October 3, Kaushalya’s husband Gurupad Gayen filed a ‘missing persons’ complaint at the Naikanidhi police station.
On October 16, a human skeleton was found in a bag while cleaning the drains in Badhabelisahi. The local municipal authorities were cleaning the drains with JCB machines when they dug dug out a bag from the drain. On opening the bag, they found a human skeleton and a severed skull in it.
The locals informed the police about the horrific find. Later, the police detained the two sons-in-laws of missing Yamuna Samal and interrogated them.
During the interrogation, Gurupad confessed his crime. The police then arrested the son-in-law and recreated the crime scene. They recovered Kaushalya’s body and later the remains of Yamuna from another place.
Gurupad Gayan married Kaushalya Gayan, the eldest daughter of Yamuna but they did not share a happy marital life. The couple had differences over several issues and also faced financial problems. Gurupad was living separately from his wife and had filed a divorce case.
According to police, when Yamuna and Kaushalya were returning home after applying for the Subhadra Yojana on September 27, Gurupad intercepted them on the way. After an argument over some issue, Gurupad beat Kaushalya with a deadly weapon and killed her. He also killed his mother-in-law when she tried to protect her daughter from the assault. Later, Gurupad put their bodies in different bags, and dumped them in different places.
