SOMNATH PARIDA: 'Monster Doctor' chopped wife into 300 pieces after murdering her

No one would have believed that the sophisticated retired doctor could kill his own wife with such brutality.

That he not just murdered her but chopped her into 300 pieces, sent a chill down the spine of even the investigators.

Somnath Parida's story is shocking by any standards. The 72-year-old man with a rank of lieutenant colonerl had retired from army.

He lived with his wife Ushashree, 62, in a house in a posh colony in Bhubaneswar in Orissa (now Odisha).

The couple's children are settled abroad. The elderly husband and wife lived here alone.

Nobody had an inkling that the medico could have committed such a horrific crime.

But when his wife went 'missing', there was suspicion among residents and his relatives.

The suspicion increased when didn't let others enter his house. When a relative went to his home, Parida didn't let him step inside.

There was a foul smell coming out of the house. The stench was so strong that it made others believe that something was seriously wrong.

The police were informed. What came out was a horrible scenario. Parida's wife had been brutally murdered by him. Ushashree was killed and then chopped into hundreds of pieces. These body parts filled the 22 containers that were kept in steel trunks. 

The doctor had then put body parts in chemicals to apparently dispose them and suppress the stench. Sharp-edged weapons, knives and surgical instruments that were used in the cruel act, were also recovered from his house.

Parida was arrested. He said that he had killed his wife on June 3. But the old man didn't reveal much. He tried to mislead police. Initially he said that his wife had committed suicide by banging her head against the wall of the house.

IN HAPPIER TIMES: PARIDA AND USHASHREE

The elderly doctor's son had been calling his mother on phone but she was not responding for sometime.

The son contacted other relatives and asked for a check on the house. It was then that the stench and the suspicion together led the relative to police.

Ushashree's brother Ranjan Samal had reached the house when he was driven out by her brother-in-law. He then informed police.

During interrogation, Parida confessed his crime though he had earlier tried to give it a different spin.


Local residents said Parida dressed well. He had a reputation of being short-tempered but people didn't hear him have any argument with his wife.

Then, what made him commit the despicable crime of cutting her body into hundreds of parts.


The body parts are being sent to lab for forensic examination. The police are interrogating the doctor to find out the motive behind the ghastly murder. Though he has been quizzed, the mystery remains as he is yet to reveal the provocation that made him a monster.