BARGARH: A day after decomposed bodies of four members of a family were recovered from their house in Bargarh’s Jandol village, Bheden police registered a murder case and started investigation on Monday.
On Sunday evening, bodies of Sesadev Meher (65), a daily wager, his 60-year-old wife Khireswari, son Arabinda (30) and daughter Sibani (22) were found locked in their house. Police suspect that Arabinda may have committed the murders before hanging himself.
A hammer-like object has been seized from the spot. Bargarh SP Smit P Parmar said the bodies of Sesadev and Arabinda were recovered from the ground floor while Khireswari and Sibani were found dead in a room on the first floor. All the bodies were lying on the floor except Arabinda who was found hanging in a room. Blood marks were found at several places in the house.
“It is too early to presume anything. A scientific team is collecting evidence. All procedures including postmortem will be videographed for investigation,” he said. Villagers said Khireswari was the second wife of Sesadev. After the death of his first wife, Sesadev married Khireswari and Sribani was their daughter. He had two children from his first wife - Arabinda and Brundabati, who is married in a nearby village.
Neither the villagers nor Brundabati were aware of any reason which could have led to the incident. Brundabati said, “This is not making any sense to me. We all shared a good relationship. I and Arabinda also had cordial relation with our second mother and Sribani. I never thought that such a tragedy will happen in my family.”
Locals said they had not seen the Meher family for the last three-four days. It was presumed that the family must be resting during the daytime after enjoying the ongoing Kali Puja Mela during the nights as the fair draws footfalls in thousands. Their absence did not raise any suspicion for several days.
The SP said, “Some of their relatives had met the Meher family on October 26. We will also verify their call records.”