Cuttack: A day after a woman identified as Shilpi Khuntia killed her stepson before hanging herself, police today arrested her husband suspecting his involvement.
Based on the complaint lodged by the family members of Shilpi, Madhupatna police had detained Santosh Khuntia on Monday and arrested him today. He will be produced before the court today.
Santosh’s parents have also been named in the complaint. Police may question them.
Shilpi was allegedly subjected to torture by her in-laws on various occasions. Santosh used to abuse her in unparliamentarily languages. Despite being a step-son, Shilpi was very fond of the child and her husband and in-laws threatened to take her away. Shilpi wanted to keep her son with her, they mentioned in the complaint.
The heart-wrenching incident took place at Shreeram Nagar slum in Cuttack on Monday in absence of Santosh.
Shilpi Khuntia who was the second wife of Santosh Khuntia had two-year-old Shivan stepson.
After getting information, the Madhupatna police station ICC along with other officials reached the house in the morning on Monday. When they entered the house, they found the toddler lying dead with an injury mark on throat and the body of a woman hanging, said Cuttack DCP Pinak Mishra.
He said that a team was collecting evidence and examining various aspects of the case. The entire proceedings were videographed in the presence of an executive magistrate.
The bodies have been sent to the SCB Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem, Mishra said.
“The exact reason behind the deaths can be ascertained after getting opinions from the forensic science experts and medical officers, who will conduct the post-mortem: the DCP said.
Police suspect that the incident could be a fall-out of a bitter family dispute. The couple had regular fights and were not staying together for the last eight months.
