A woman was brutally hacked to death by her husband over a petty domestic dispute regarding food preparation in Paduguda village under Lulla panchayat of Koraput district’s Dashamantpur block.
The accused husband, identified as 35-year-old Rab Saunta, allegedly murdered his wife, Kabita Saunta, in the dead of night. According to police reports, a violent argument erupted between the couple after Rab complained that he had brought dal (lentils), but Kabita had prepared a watery lentil soup (charupani) instead of regular dal.
The altercation quickly escalated. Ignoring the cries of their four young children—elder daughter Deepa (11), middle son Aria (7), daughter Devi (5), and infant daughter Shriya—the accused began thrashing his wife. In a fit of blind rage, Rab fetched an axe from the house and struck Kabita on the left side of her neck, inflicting a fatal wound.
Hearing the victim’s dying gasps, the eldest daughter woke up and screamed for help. The accused’s younger brother, Sanji Saunta, and his wife, Shashi, rushed to the scene and demanded the door be opened. Once the frightened children managed to unlock and open the door, alert villagers gathered with wooden sticks, successfully overpowering the accused and immediately notifying the Dashamantpur police.
Acting on the instructions of Inspector-in-Charge Charan Singh Majhi, a police team rushed to the spot and detained the accused. A scientific team from Koraput, led by second officer Sushila Khara, along with Koraput SDPO Sanjay Kumar Mandal, Dashamantpur Second Officer Swarupa Mallick, and ASI Rabindra Nath Badakumar, arrived the next morning to conduct a thorough investigation. The murder weapon, an axe, was successfully recovered from the scene.
A formal complaint was lodged at the police station by the victim’s elder brother, Bhaskar Saunta, who rushed from Toriguda upon hearing the tragic news. Case No. 127/26 has been registered under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanstha (BNS). Meanwhile, SDPO Mandal has initiated communication with the District Child Welfare Department to ensure proper care and rehabilitation for the four orphaned children.
The grieving mother of the victim, Tilai Saunta, has made an impassioned plea to the government, demanding capital punishment or life imprisonment for the perpetrator. Highlighting the dire infrastructural challenges of the remote area, the tragedy was further compounded by the pathetic condition of the 3-kilometre unpaved stretch from Lulla Chhak to Paduguda village, which forced villagers to carry the victim’s body on a stretcher to the main road for an ambulance transport toward post-mortem.
