Sambalpur: Three members of a family including two women were axed to death by their neighbour at Lapada under Mahulapali police limits Sambalpur district allegedly over property dispute Wednesday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Pirabati Behera (55), a widow, her daughter Sabitri Sahu (30) and son-in-law Giridhari Sahu (38).
After committing the crime, the accused, Naveen Dehuri and his son Hemananda Dehuri ran amok in the village and scared the locals before absconding.
On being informed, Kuchinda SDPO Raj Kishore Mishra and Mahulapali IIC Jyotshnarani Behera rushed to the spot and seized the murder weapon.
A forensic team was also pressed into service. Police registered a case and arrested Naveen and Hemananda following their interrogation.
Sambalpur SP Kanwar Vishal Singh also visited the crime scene and took stock of the situation. Later, the SP listed the murder case in Red Flag category after assessing the severity of the crime.
While the bodies of Pirabati and Sabitri were found lying in a pool of blood near their house, another body of Pirabati’s son-in-law Giridhari Sahu was found on their farmland.
It was alleged that Naveen and his son Hemananda murdered the widow, daughter and son-in-law as the former was eyeing to grab the land of the widow.
Giridhari had been staying at his mother-in-law’s house for the last five years and earning his living by cultivating her farmland. The dispute over property often led to altercation between the two families and matter was also sub-judice in the court.
The harvest time was nearing when it struck to Naveen that it would be easier for him to grab the landed properties of Pirabati if he eliminated all the three family members.
He hatched a plan with his son Hemananda and the two hacked Giridhari to death when he was working on the farmland in afternoon. Profusely bleeding, Giridhari died on the spot.