A routine attempt to intervene in an ongoing domestic dispute ended in tragic bloodshed on Friday evening in Uliburu Burusahi, under the jurisdiction of the Badabil police station in Kendujhar district.
What was intended as a family counselling session escalated rapidly, leaving one man dead and another on the run from law enforcement.
The deceased, identified as Banamali Munda, had reportedly been subjecting his wife, Sukamati, to repeated physical abuse. The ongoing domestic strife reached a critical breaking point last Tuesday when Banamali allegedly attacked Sukamati’s head with an axe in a life-threatening assault. Desperate for help and fearing for her safety, Sukamati reached out to her parental family, asking them to intervene and reason with her husband.
Responding to her distress call, Sukamati’s mother, Saraswati Tiria, and her brother, Ajay Tiria, arrived at the couple’s residence on Friday evening to discuss the situation. However, efforts to counsel Banamali quickly broke down into a heated verbal confrontation between the two brothers-in-law.
As tempers flared, the argument turned violent. In a fit of rage, Ajay allegedly unleashed a brutal physical assault on Banamali. The impact of the beatings was so severe that Banamali collapsed and died on the spot before medical assistance could be summoned.
Realising the fatal outcome of the clash, the accused, Ajay Tiria, fled the scene immediately and remains at large.
Local police rushed to the location shortly after being alerted by family members and neighbours. Officers have seized Banamali’s body and dispatched it for a post-mortem examination as part of the formal investigation.
“We have initiated a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the fatal assault,” stated a senior officer from the Barbil police station. “A manhunt and lookout operation have been launched to track down and arrest the fleeing suspect.”
The local community remains shaken by the rapid turn of events, which transformed a domestic intervention into a tragic homicide. Further updates will follow as police continue their search for the accused.
