A gruesome incident of alleged domestic murder shook Bhubaneswar on Wednesday evening when a 32-year-old man allegedly beat his 26-year-old wife to death with a tawa (frying pan) at their residence in Brit Colony under Nayapalli police station limits.
The deceased has been identified as Banasmita Swain. The accused, her husband Sarbeswar Pradhan, was detained by Nayapalli police. A blood-stained tawa was recovered from the bedroom and seized as evidence. The body was sent to Capital Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Police said the couple had a heated argument that escalated. Pradhan allegedly locked the room and repeatedly struck his wife on the head with the tawa until she died on the spot. Family members of the deceased have alleged that other relatives were present in the house but the assault went unnoticed because doors and windows were closed. They have also questioned how the accused’s father later described the incident as linked to mental illness.
The couple, both originally from Rajnagar block in Kendrapara district (wife from Bhagabanpur and husband from Belpal), had a love marriage about one-and-a-half years ago. They have a four-month-old son. Banasmita had been staying at her in-laws’ place in Belpal after the child’s birth and had come to Bhubaneswar with her father-in-law the previous Sunday. Relatives of the deceased alleged that disputes over the husband’s substance use were frequent. They claimed he had been involved in drug use and dealing before and after marriage and that she had repeatedly tried to reform him. They further alleged that the husband’s family had been unhappy with the love marriage and that the father-in-law, a contractor, was attempting to downplay the case and seek a lighter outcome.
Police sources indicated that the accused’s family told investigators he had been suffering from mental illness for about six months and was on medication. The exact motive is still under investigation. Nayapalli police have registered a murder case and are questioning the accused.
Relatives of Banasmita, including her uncle Bansidhar Swain and villagers from Bhagabanpur, reached Bhubaneswar after receiving the news and demanded a thorough probe and stringent action. They alleged the killing was planned and that earlier smaller quarrels had not prepared them for such an extreme act.
Commissionerate Police are treating the matter as serious. Further investigation will examine the sequence of events, the role of other family members present, the accused’s medical history, and the allegations of substance abuse and family pressure.
The four-month-old child has been left without a mother. The case has drawn attention to domestic violence in the capital even as police continue to gather statements and forensic evidence.
