The accused planned to start business by selling his wife's ornaments, said police. (Representational)
A 28-year-old labourer allegedly strangled his 22-year-old wife to death and chopped her body into pieces before disposing of those into a gorge in Rushikulya River in Odisha's Ganjam district, police said on Friday.
The incident took place in Bhagabanpur village in Sorada police station area.
He was questioned after being picked up on the basis of an FIR lodged against him by his mother-in-law in Kodala police station area on Thursday.
"Following a heated exchange of words at their home on Wednesday night, the accused strangled his wife to death and carried her body to the gorge, chopped it into five pieces with an axe and threw those into the river," a police officer said.
He said though the exact reason behind the murder is being investigated, a preliminary probe suggests that the accused had demanded that his wife hand over her gold ornaments to him, which she had refused to do.
The accused was planning to start a business after selling his wife's gold ornaments, he said.
They had gotten married only three months ago at a temple.
A day after the incident, he had informed his in-laws that his wife was missing.
"The accused was detained for questioning on Friday. Firefighters searched for the body parts in the river but have not met with any success as the water body is in a spate. The axe allegedly used in the crime has been seized," Aska SDPO Uma Shankar Singh said.
Police claimed that the accused has confessed to committing the crime but were waiting for evidence with the recovery of the body parts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)