Man sentenced to life term for killing his wife, mother-in-law in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj

Baripada: The Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ) court in Baripada town of Mayurbhanj today sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his wife and mother-in-law in the district in 2019. In addition, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convicted person.

The convict has to undergo imprisonment for an additional period of six months in case he fails to pay the fine amount, the ADJ court of Satya Narayan Patra ordered.

According to an official source, the man identified as Purnachandra Mohanta from Khuntapal village under Morada police limits had married one Mamata Mohanta, the daughter of Suniti Mohanta from the same village. The couple was frequently indulging in altercations.

For several months after marriage, Mamata had been staying with her mother at her paternal house. On the intervening day (June 17, 2019), Purnachandra went to his in-laws’ house and compelled the woman to come along with him to his house. A verbal spat erupted between the two leading to the murder as she had not agreed to the man’s proposal and outrightly refused to accompany.

Things had taken an ugly turn when, in a fit of rage, Purnachandra hacked his wife and mother-in-law to death with an axe over a family feud.

Based on an FIR lodged against the man, Morada police had registered a case and launched a probe.