A court in Bihar’s Arwal district awarded capital punishment to a 78-year- old retired school teacher Birbal Prasad Sahu who killed his 70-year-old wife Sumanti Sinha and cut the body into 12 pieces right on the day of their 57th marriage anniversary, police said on Wednesday.
The gruesome crime took place in Jamuhari village under Mehendia police station on July 22, 2024.
The convict Birbal Prasad Sahu was produced before the Additional District and Sessions Judge I Ravi Ranjan Mishra, who pronounced him guilty of murder under section 103 (1) of the BNS.
The Judge readout the order: “The accused man should be hanged by a noose around him neck until he dies.”
Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Bindu Bhushan Prasad, representing the government, told the media that on the basis of the evidence and witnesses presented in the court, the court has sentenced him to death considering it a heinous crime. “The court termed it a crime that betrays the decency of trust and marital relations, saying that the case falls under the rarest category,” the APP added.
According to the police, Birbal suspected his wife of having an extramarital affair with his deceased uncle who passed away in 2010. In a fit of rage, he used a sharp edge weapon to cut her body into pieces. The accused had intended to cut his wife into 57 pieces, but he managed only 12 before his grandson interrupted, the police said.
The incident took place on July 22, the 57th anniversary of their marriage. He had planned the brutal murder of his wife on their anniversary in advance.
When the police team arrived at the spot, the ex-school teacher was found sitting near his wife’s body and surrendered before the police. During interrogation, Birbal confessed that his first wife died in a fire incident in 1989, after which his uncle forced him to marry Sumanti.
At that time he was working in the power department at Denughat in Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) and later he was appointed as a teacher. During his job, he lived in Arwal city with his children for their education, while his wife stayed in the village to take care of his uncle. After retirement, he moved back to the village. His wife continued to serve his uncle more than him, which made him suspicious and led to dispute among husband and wife.
Birbal’s son is an engineer, the second is in BSF, the third is a teacher, the fourth is an auto owner and his daughter is also a teacher. All of them are married.
Birbal Prasad is currently in Jehanabad divisional jail.
This is the second capital punishment pronounced by the Bihar’s court in February this year.
Earlier on February 12, a Begusarai court awarded the death penalty to a man convicted in a triple murder case dating back to Oct 2019.
