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Descendant of royal family killed over property, say Odisha police
Cuttack deputy commissioner of police Prateek Singh said Singhdeo had a long-running feud with his mother as she controlled all the monetary and property transactions of their family.
Killing of the granddaughter-in-law of the erstwhile ruler of Kanika royal estate by her 57-year-old son was over a property dispute of the family, the police said on Friday, a day after the crime.
On Wednesday morning, Paresh Kumari Devi, the 75-year-old granddaughter-in-law of the erstwhile King of Kanika, Rajendra Narayan Bhanjadeo, was allegedly killed by her 57-year-old son Subhendra Narayan Bhanjadeo at their home in Srivihar Colony in Bidanasi area of Cuttack town.
Paresh Kumari, who lived in the house with Subhendra and daughter Jayanti Samantray was battered to death by her son with the broken leg of a wooden chair and then a sharp object, the police said. Jayanti, who reportedly ran away seeing her brother attack her mother, later called up the police, who arrested him while he was trying to flee.
Cuttack deputy commissioner of police Prateek Singh said Subhendra had a long-running feud with his mother as she controlled all the monetary and property transactions of their family. “He was allegedly not allowed to be part of any financial transaction due to which he nursed a grudge. He also had three bad marriages and used to blame his mother for all problems in life. He used to be under mental stress due to financial and personal issues,” said Singh, adding that the mother-son duo used to have regular quarrels over property matters,
Samantray, the sister of the accused, said her brother had tried to strangulate her mother earlier, too, following which she advised staying with her on a floor above.
Samantray said Singhdeo’s first wife had died while his second wife is living in New Delhi after divorce. He was currently in the process of separating from his third wife Bijaya Singhdeo. Bijaya said her husband was temperamentally very violent and used to beat her up at the slightest pretext.
The Kanika feudatory estate was started around 1280 by Bhujabal Bhanj, brother of the then ruling chief of the princely estate of Mayurbhanj, spanned over several districts of Odisha, including the Bhitarkanika marine sanctuary in present-day Kendrapara district. Successive rulers of Kanika later extended the domain of the estate to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, where they had thousands of acres, including the area where the Biju Patnaik International Airport exists in the Odisha capital city. After Independence, the estate merged with the Indian union, and the government annexed much of the landed properties.
Rajendra Narayan Bhanjdeo, the last Kanika ruler, played a major role in formation of modern-day Odisha in the 1930s.
