Bhubaneswar, June 23: The alleged presence of a mysterious woman has given a new twist to the murder case involving retired army doctor Somnath Parida.

Nayapalli police arrested Parida yesterday from his two-storey house at IRC Village for killing his wife Ushashree, chopping her body into 200-odd pieces and stashing them away in two iron chests. They had been married for 42 years.

The police are, however, yet to establish the motive behind Ushashree’s murder.

Byomakesh Tripathy, a lawyer who also brings out a newspaper, has claimed that Parida had met him around 25 days ago after reading about an article on some men being harassed by women.

“He told me that a woman he had met a few months ago was blackmailing him and demanding money. He did not give me the details about the woman or divulge anything about their relationship. But he appeared upset over it and feared for his social status. I asked him to approach the police, but it appeared that he didn’t like my advice,” said Tripathy.

Ushashree’s brother Ranjan Samal, who owns a law book store at Kharavela Nagar, felt there might be some truth to the mysterious woman theory and said he would ask the police to look into this angle.

“During the raid on my sister’s house, the police did not find any ornaments though she loved jewellery. No cash was seized from the house either. We suspect he might have given these to that woman,” said Samal.

The deceased’s relatives also said that they had also heard about a mysterious woman, in her mid-thirties.

However, nothing ever happened in the past which would lead us to suspect Parida, said a relative.

The relatives said that recovery of a butcher’s knife from the house of Parida indicated that someone else might have assisted him in the crime. However, a police official said that Parida had bought two saws, a knife and a pair of scissors from Unit-I market.

Officers investigating the crime, however, rubbished the woman angle saying that they had come across no such clues.

Deputy commissioner of police Nitinjeet Singh said that the mysterious woman angle was immaterial unless she was involved in the conspiracy.

“Till now, the involvement of any other person in the crime has not been proved. It seems to be a cold-blooded murder and he was planning to dispose of the body. He had a record of a disturbed marital life,” said Singh. He added that Parida was a recluse and circumstances pointed to him being the murderer.

The accused had told the police yesterday that his wife committed suicide by banging her head on the bedpost and he sliced her body in order to preserve it as he wanted to cremate it at Shirdi in the presence of his children and grandchildren in September.

“He said his grandchildren were taking their exams in the UAE. He would have cremated the body when they came to India in September,” said a police officer.

According to his relatives, Parida visited his brother-in-law Samal’s bookshop at least thrice after having killed his wife. However, he never mentioned anything about her.