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Odisha daily wager slays 3yrs old daughter, attacks 4 others before killing self
Police opened the room to find Kujur bleeding heavily from a throat wound, apparently received from the same cleaver he used to kill his daughter.
A 54-year-old tribal who worked as a daily wager in Odisha’s Sambalpur district killed himself on Saturday after having hacked his 3-year-old daughter to death and attempted to kill three other daughters and wife late Friday night.
Police officials investigating the case said Suku Kujur of Joutukbahal village under Govindpur police station of Sambalpur district was under home isolation after testing positive for Covid on June 5. His wife Atebari Kujur and five children including four daughters aged between 2-15 years stayed in an adjacent room.
“On Friday evening, his wife left food outside his room which he ate. At around midnight, he picked up a meat cleaver and started attacking his children and wife in their sleep. He first killed his 3-year-old daughter Salima Kujur with the cleaver and then attacked his three other daughters and wife, injuring them severely. He however spared his son,” said inspector of Govindpur police station, Pratap Rana.
Police said Kujur’s wife somehow ran away from the house with his bleeding children and hid outside. On Saturday morning, she narrated the incident to the villagers, who locked up Suku, who had bolted the room from inside, and informed police. When police opened the room, they found Kujur bleeding heavily from a throat wound apparently received from the same cleaver.
He was rushed to the district headquarters hospital and then VIMSAR Medical College and Hospital in Burla, where he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday afternoon. His three daughters aged 15, 7 and 2 years along with wife, have been discharged from the hospital.
Police officers said they are still unsure why Suku attacked his own family members. “He had married Atebari a few years after his first wife died. But he never fought with his wife as per her own admission. He was not into drinking. But he may be in depression as he was out of work due to [the] lockdown. A few days ago he was asking for money from one of his friends. Now that he is dead, it would be difficult to know why he attacked his own family members,” said inspector Rana.
