Police: Assam woman killed her husband, his mother, and discarded their body parts in Meghalaya.
GUWAHATI: Guwahati police in Assam have detained a woman and two of her male acquaintances for allegedly killing her mother-in-law and husband between July and August of last year.
According to police, Bandana Kalita (32), a gym instructor, allegedly killed her mother-in-law Shankari Dey (62), a retired government employee, on July 26 last year and her husband Amarjyoti Dey (35), who was unemployed, on August 17, with help from her friends Dhanti Deka, a taxi driver, and Arup Deka, a vegetable vendor.
Additionally, the three dismembered the bodies and travelled twice to Meghalaya, a nearby state, to dispose of the body pieces. The accused’s confession, according to the police, allowed for the recovery of some of the deceased woman’s body parts, and efforts are now being made to locate her son’s remains.
“Investigation into the matter began after Bandana Kalita reported her husband and mother-in-law missing to the Noonmati police station on August 29. After then, police conducted every necessary action, however they were unable to get any leads on either of the two suspects, according to Guwahati police commissioner Diganta Barah.
Nirmalya Dey, the missing aunt’s nephew, later filed a lawsuit in Noonmati on November 21 saying that money had been taken from his aunt’s bank account via ATM cards and that she and her son may have been kidnapped. The police made inquiries once more, but they turned up no significant leads.
On February 14 of this year, Kalita went to the Guwahati police commissioner’s office and voiced his displeasure with the lack of response from the force. Nirmalya Dey also protested to the police’s criminal investigation department (CID) about the lack of development in his case on that day.
Police constituted a special team under the leadership of additional deputy commissioner of police (central) Kalyan Pathak to review both cases in light of the two allegations.
“During further investigation, both Bandana Kalita and Nirmalya Dey were questioned and police found inconsistencies in the former’s statements. Although she initially sought to deceive the investigators, after two days of persistent interrogation, she admitted to killing her husband and mother-in-law with the assistance of her two male friends, according to Barah.
According to the police, Bandana Kalita claimed that she and Arup Deka killed her mother-in-law on July 26 at her residence in the Chandmari neighbourhood. Dey was first choked with a pillow by the two before having her head cut with a machete and rolling pin when she fell unconscious.
“She acknowledged chopping the body into three pieces. The components were placed in blanket-covered polythene bags that Dhanti Deka had brought. The three placed the pieces in Dhanti Deka’s taxi early on July 27 and travelled to Meghalaya where they dumped the body parts at one location and the skull, machete, and rolling pin at another location on the Shillong-Cherrapunjee route. According to Barah, the components were dropped from a great height along the gorge road.
At the couple’s Noonmati flat on August 17, Bandana Kalita and her two companions are accused of killing her husband by first hitting him in the head with an iron rod. They divided his body into five pieces when he passed out and placed each piece in a plastic bag.
The three got into the same car early on August 18 and drove to Dawki, which is close to the border between Bangladesh and India in Meghalaya. They returned after disposing of the body parts in a manner akin to the first time, according to Barah.
After Bandana’s testimony, police in Guwahati on Sunday also detained Dhanti Deka from the Tinsukia district and Arup Deka from Khanapara. The three were escorted to the Shillong–Cherrapunjee road, where, on Sunday, the Assam police and their Meghalayan counterparts were able to recover a few body parts thought to belong to Shankari Dey.
Both Dhanti Deka and Arup Deka were produced in court on Monday and have been remanded in police custody. In the Tinsukia district, police have also confiscated the car that was being used to transport the body parts.
Bandana Kalita and Dhanti Deka’s cell phones have been taken, and Shankari Dey’s ATM cards have been found in the possession of her daughter-in-law. According to the police, Kalita was taking money out of her mother-in-account. law’s
Amarjyoti Dey and Bandana Kalita wed 12 years ago against the wishes of both of their families, according to investigations. Subsequently, Bandana Kalita was adopted by Shankari Dey as her daughter-in-law, and the three shared an apartment in Noonmati.
“It looks that Amarjyoti utilised narcotics and had no useful occupation. Also, he was quite friendly with several ladies, which caused conflict with his wife. As a result, Shankari Dey moved out of the couple’s apartment and into one she owned in the Chandmari neighbourhood, according to Barah.
“Bandana Kalita appears to have made the decision at some point to have her husband and mother-in-law removed with the aid of her two close friends. It might have been to protect both of their assets or because of the abuse she endured at the hands of her spouse. The motivation is still not quite evident,” he continued.
According to the police, Shankari Dey and her son used to collect a sizable sum of money each month in rent from a number of properties/apartments they owned in the Guwahati neighbourhoods of Chandmari and Noomati. While Bandana Kalita is close with both Dhanti Deka and Arup Deka, according to Barah, the details of their ties are still unclear.
“Despite some initial delays in this investigation, we were able to find the killings following review. We continue to investigate, and we anticipate shortly recovering the husband’s body pieces. The victims’ identities will be discovered through forensic investigation and DNA testing. According to scientific research, we are certain that we can build a solid case against each of the three accused, according to Barah.
