Sambalpur: A man killed his wife in the building of a family court on Monday and injured her mother and niece with a sword, police said.

Ramesh Kumbhar of Sindurpankh in Sambalpur attacked his 18-year-old wife Sanjita Chowdhury with a sword and killed her. He also injured his mother-in-law Lalita Chowdhury and a two-and-half-year-old niece, police said.

His father-in-law escaped the attack, the police said.

Sanjita had appeared at the court with her parents for conciliation with her husband as she had returned to her parental home a few months after her marriage, they said.

She had eloped with Ramesh last year and lived with him for several months, She had, however, returned to her parents as she was being tortured by her husband and had been married off to another person.

Ramesh had filed a petition in the family court to get back his wife.

In a pre-planned attack, he hit Sanjita and her family members in the court premises with a sword injuring them severely when they reached there, the police said.

According to eyewitnesses Sanjita had run inside the family court building to escape the attack but Ramesh chased her and stabbed her. He also tried to attack Sanjita's father Sudan Chowdhury, who ran into a room of the Sambalpur Sadar tehsil office.

People who were present there overpowered Ramesh and thrashed him before handing him to the police.

Sanjita, her mother, and her niece were rushed to the Sambalpur district hospital. As her condition deteriorated, Sanjita was shifted to a hospital at Burla where she died, the police said.

Sambalpur sub-divisional police officer, Mihir Panda said Ramesh has been arrested and his weapons were seized.