Mystery shrouds the death of a woman whose body was found hanging at her house at Sriram Nagar area under Madhupatna police limits in Cuttack on Monday. The body of a two-year-old boy was also recovered from the same house.
As per local residents, the minor boy was the step son of the deceased woman. It is suspected that the woman, identified as Shilpi Das, committed suicide after killing her stepson on Sunday night. The exact reason behind the incident is unclear. However, it is suspected that the incident could be the fallout of some ongoing family feud between the Shilpi and her husband.
The deceased Shilpi’s husband Santosh Khuntia works in a private company at Salepur. The couple had tied the nuptial knot some 12 to 13 months back.
The grandparents of the minor boy alleged, “Our daughter-in-law always used to quarrel with us and she was also not looking after her husband and son.”
Deceased Shilpi’s parents, on the other hand, have levelled torture allegations against their son-in-law.
Husband of the deceased Shilpi said, “I had married her after coming in contact with her over social media. She (Shilpi) knew that I was married and had a son. Despite this, she agreed for marriage. But after two months of marriage, my wife started quarrelling with me and pressurised not to keep relation with my parents.”
According to Santosh, “It was only for the future of his son that he had not kept any relation with his parents. However, the in-laws were constantly interfering in their family life.” As per reports, Shilpi’s husband had left home after some dispute with her some three days back.
ACP Anil Mishra said, “The woman and her son were alone in the house and the bodies were recovered after breaking the door. We will send the bodies for post mortem. Only after an investigation, we will be in a position to say what actually had happened.”
Tension At Spot
Tension prevailed at the spot after an assistant sub-inspector, posted at Cantontment police station, arrived at the crime scene. The relatives of the deceased woman alleged that the concerned official has links with Shilpi’s husband. “I have links with the deceased woman’s husband who is a distant relative. I had come to meet him after hearing the incident,” said the assistant sub-inspector.
DCP Pinak Mishra said, “The body of the minor boy has injuries and the woman's body was found hanging inside the room of the house. Our priority is to allow the forensic team to seize material evidence from the spot. Only after getting experts’ opinion following post mortem, we will be in a position to say anything about the cause of death.”
Mishra further said that preliminary investigation revealed that there were some differences between the two families. "However, we are not drawing any conclusion and investigation will be conducted as per procedure," he said.
On presence of the assistant sub-inspector of another police station at the spot, the Cuttack DCP said, “We will certainly ask the concerned officer regarding his presence. Appropriate steps will be taken if we find anything wrong.”
Shilip's Last Facebook Post
In a post on her social media account, Shilpi had posted, "I Quit'. It suggests that she was under mental duress. The post was uploaded several hours prior to her death.
(Reported by Prabhat Bisoi)