BHUBANESWAR: Easy availability of brown sugar in the State Capital and its addiction pushed a 46-year-old man to kill his wife, who was recently discharged from a private hospital after giving birth to their daughter.
The accused Sanjit Dash, a BSc graduate, stabbed his wife Saraswati (36) multiple times with a kitchen knife at their house in Ghatikia under Bharatpur police limits at about 11 am on Thursday. He also attacked their six-year-old daughter with the knife and left her critically injured. The accused was staying with his wife and two daughters on the first floor of their two-storey house.
Sanjit’s elder brother Ranjit stays on the second floor and his younger sibling Manjit stays on the ground floor of the same building. Their mother Kanaklata Dash stays with Manjit. Kanaklata rang up the couple to give them food but Sanjit kept on disconnecting her calls. When Kanaklata was going to Sanjit’s house on the first floor, she saw him leaving the building.
Sanjit revealed to his mother that he had killed his wife Saraswati and had attacked their daughter but she was still alive. He also asked her to inform the police about the crime. The minor girl was rushed to a hospital and her condition is stated to be stable. After committing the crime, Sanjit was strolling in Ghatikia area when he was arrested by Bharatpur police. Police said that the accused stabbed his wife multiple times and they have seized the knife used in the crime.
Saraswati was working as a nurse in a private hospital here, while Sanjit was unemployed. Saraswati had given birth to a baby girl four days back at a private hospital here. His uncle Jalaja Ballav Dash recalled that he had frequent fights with his wife for money needed to buy brown sugar.
“In the past, we had suggested Saraswati to live in a separate house with her daughter. However, she refused. She was receiving her salary on 10th or 11th every month. Sanjit used to take her ATM card and blow up her salary within a week,” Jalaja told TNIE. Sanjit was reportedly unhappy when Saraswati gave birth to their elder daughter. Jalaja said he could have got possibly upset when she gave birth to a second baby girl.
“He was addicted to drugs and sent to rehab centres in the City at least twice. However, due to easy availability of brown sugar in Ghatikia and Khandagiri Bari areas, he could not quit the habit,” said a relative of the accused. Sanjit and Saraswati were married since 2015. He was earlier working with a private company in Faridabad but had returned to Odisha.