Bhubaneswar, Jun 22 (TNN): A retired army officer allegedly chopped his wife's body to more than 100 pieces and stealthily disposed the body parts over several days.

Though the cold-blooded murder occurred nearly a fortnight ago, police came to know about the incident on Friday night.

The accused, Somnath Parida, has been arrested from his house at Nayapalli. "We are trying to ascertain the exact date and cause of the brutal murder. Parida, who is an ex-army officer, confessed to killing his wife and is being interrogated further by the police.

"The mutilated remains of his wife Usashri was recovered from a box from his house," DCP Nitinjeet Singh said.

The matter came to light when one of Paridas's relatives visited their house in the evening. "The relative came to inquire about Usashri and Somnath, who had not been receiving phone calls from her son, staying in America, for the past few days. He asked the relative to visit the house to see if his parents were fine," said a police officer.

"When the visitor reached home, Somnath became nervous. He said that Usashri has gone out. The visitor complained about the horrible stink emanating from the house and found Usashri's body parts stuffed inside a box," the police officer said.

Police later came to know that Somnath already threw some body parts outside.