BARIPADA: In a shocking incident, a 38-year-old man allegedly hacked his four-year-old son to death in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, claiming extreme poverty and inability to support his family drove him to commit the heinous crime.
The accused, identified as Sohan Singh of Sarat police limits, was arrested on Friday and produced before the SDJM court in Udala which remanded him in judicial custody.
Police said Sohan lives with his wife and their five children, two sons and three daughters. Later, a video emerged in which Sohan apparently told police that he killed his child as an offering to God. Police said the incident took place on Thursday when Sohan allegedly snatched his son, Dumbi Singh, from his wife’s arms and attacked the child with a chopper. The boy suffered grievous injuries.
His mother and neighbours rushed the unconscious child to Sarat hospital before shifting him to the Udala sub-divisional hospital where doctors declared him dead. The hospital authorities informed the police after suspecting it to be a case of murder.
Acting on the information, Udala police alerted Sarat police. A team led by Sarat IIC Ramakanta Patra reached the hospital, seized the child’s body and sent it for postmortem. Sohan was arrested from his house.
Police registered a murder case based on a complaint lodged by one of the accused’s relatives. During preliminary interrogation, Sohan allegedly told police that financial hardship pushed him to commit the crime. “I could not provide for my wife and children. I have no regular job and rarely get wage work. I lost patience and took the drastic step,” he reportedly confessed.
Later, he told investigators that he sacrificed his son as an offering to God.