Abu Dhabi: A Dubai woman has rushed back home in a state of shock after her mother was hacked into pieces by her ex-army man father in India.

The Indian expatriate, who teaches at a Dubai school, lived with her husband and reportedly never kept in touch with her father, Somnath Parida. The 71-year-old retired army doctor is currently in police custody.

Nitinjeet Singh, the Deputy Commissioner (DCP) of Bhubaneshwar Police, investigating the case told XPRESS that the teacher was on talking terms only with her 61-year-old mother Ushasri Samal.

“Somnath had strained relationships with his children,” Singh said. The teacher’s brother has also dashed from Saudi Arabia and is being questioned by the police.

Parida has admitted hacking his wife’s body into six-inch pieces using a surgeon’s scalpel, scissor, saw and a kitchen knife. He is then said to have stashed away the 300 body parts in 22 small tiffin containers over three weeks since June 3 at their posh IRC Village residence in the eastern Indian city.

DCP Singh said Parida poured phenyl on the body parts to kill the stench and stored them in two army trunks. “We guess he was planning to take the body parts in the car and dispose of them in different places,” the DCP told the media earlier.

Parida was arrested by the police on June 22 after his wife’s relatives lodged a complaint about her mysterious disappearance.

According to reports, Parida tried to convince them that his wife was visiting her daughter in Dubai. When the police arrived at his residence, the tiffin containers raised a stench and subsequently their suspicion.

Following his retirement in 1992, Parida worked as a consultant with several organisations including the WHO. After their children left home, the couple has been living alone and is reported to have a long history of marital discord. A teetotaller, Parida went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 3am.

“He is a sadistic, emotionless man with no social contacts at all. He kept attending his private clinic even after the ghastly crime,” said Singh.

Though the police have yet to determine a motive for the murder, Parida reiterates that his wife committed suicide by banging her head.

He said he stashed her body in containers so that he could fulfil her last wish of being cremated on the day of Shirdi Sai Baba’s (a revered holy man in India) birthday on September 27.

Singh said interrogating Parida’s children will throw more light onto the case.