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Odisha man kills his father, stepmother and stepsister at home, dies by suicide
Their neighbours told the police that the family was last spotted alive on October 26 evening and the house had been locked for the past few days.
A 35-year-old man in Odisha’s Bargarh district allegedly bludgeoned his father, stepmother and younger stepsister to death before dying by suicide, police said on Monday.
Their bodies were found in their house in a village of Bargarh’s Bheden block on Sunday evening after neighbours reported a foul smell from their house. A police officer said his father, 55, his wife, 48 and their 22,year-old daughter were found with injuries on their face and head. The 35-year-old was found hanging in another room.
Their neighbours told the police that the family was last spotted alive on October 26 evening and the house was locked from the outside.
A local police officer said they initially suspected that the four deaths were the result of a suicide pact but they came around to the view that the 35-year-old killed the other three on the basis of their investigations and the autopsy report.
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“We investigated multiple theories on what could have happened and took into account the post-mortem report…. We have come to the conclusion that the man first killed his stepmother and stepsister and then his father with a hammer before he hung himself,” said a Bargarh district police officer familiar with the case.
Police suspect the accused locked the main gate from outside and entered the house from a rear entrance. Investigators suspect that the neighbours did not hear anything suspicious, leading them to conclude that a single blow on the face killed the victims. “There is no evidence of a struggle,” one officer said.
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Neighbours described the son as a mild-mannered person but underlined that he was sore with his family who he felt did not support him enough, in business and in his personal life. “He tried to become successful in business and opened a shop also, but it didn’t click… Some people in the neighbourhood did tease him because he was a bachelor at 35,” the officer cited above said, unsure if it was linked to the deaths.
