GUWAHATI: Police in Assam’s Guwahati have arrested a woman and two of her male friends for allegedly murdering her mother-in-law and husband in July and August last year, police stated on Monday.
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.
After the murders, the three chopped up the bodies and made two trips to neighbouring Meghalaya to dispose the body parts. Based on confessions of the accused, police have been able to recover parts of the deceased woman’s body and efforts are underway to trace body parts of her son.
“Investigation into the case started after Bandana Kalita filed a missing persons report in Noonmati police station on August 29, that her husband and mother-in-law were missing. Following this, police took all required steps, but failed to secure any leads on both persons,” said Guwahati police commissioner Diganta Barah.
Subsequently on November 21, Shankari Dey’s nephew Nirmalya Dey filed a case in Noonmati alleging that money was being withdrawn from his missing aunt’s bank account using ATM cards and suspected that she and her son might have been abducted. The police again conducted inquires, but didn’t get any major clues.
On February 14 this year, Kalita approached Guwahati police commissioner’s office and complained about police inaction in the case. The same day, Nirmalya Dey also complained to police’s criminal investigation department (CID) about no progress in his case.
Based on the two complaints, police decided to review both cases and a special team headed by additional deputy commissioner of police (central) Kalyan Pathak was formed.
“During further investigation, both Bandana Kalita and Nirmalya Dey were questioned and police found inconsistencies in the former’s statements. Though she tried to mislead the team initially, on sustained questioning for two days, she confessed to have killed both her husband and mother-in-law with help of her two male friends,” said Barah.
Police say that Bandana Kalita claims to have killed her mother-in-law at the latter’s apartment in Chandmari locality on July 26 with help of Arup Deka. The two first suffocated Dey with a pillow and when she became unconscious severed her head with a machete and rolling pin .
“She confessed to having chopped the body into three parts. The parts were put in polythene bags brought by Dhanti Deka and covered with blankets. On the early morning of July 27, the three put the parts in Dhanti Deka’s taxi, drove to Meghalaya and dropped the body parts at one place and the head, machete and rolling pin at another place on the Shillong-Cherrapunjee road. The parts were dropped from high altitude along the road to gorges,” said Barah.
On August 17, Bandana Kalita and her two friends allegedly killed her husband at the couple’s Noonmati apartment, first by hitting him on his head with an iron road. When he became unconscious, they chopped the body into five parts and put them in polythene bags.
“On the early morning of August 18, the three took the same vehicle and proceeded towards Dawki near the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya. They disposed the body parts in a manner similar to the first instance and came back,” said Barah.
Following Bandana’s statement, she was arrested and police arrested Dhanti Deka from Tinsukia district and Arup Deka from Khanapara in Guwahati on Sunday. The three were taken to the Shillong-Cherrapunjee road where the Assam police with help from their Meghalaya counterparts were able to recovered few body parts suspected to have belonged to Shankari Dey, on Sunday.
Both Dhanti Deka and Arup Deka were produced in court on Monday and have been remanded to police custody. Police have also seized the vehicle used to carry the body parts in Tinsukia district .
Mobile phones of Bandana Kalita and Dhanti Deka have been seized and ATM cards belonging to Shankari Dey recovered from her daughter-in-law’s possession. Police confirmed that Kalita was withdrawing money from her mother-in-law’s account.
Investigations revealed that Amarjyoti Dey and Bandana Kalita married 12 years ago against the wishes of both their families. Later Shankari Dey accepted Bandana Kalita as her daughter-in-law and the three lived together in their Noonmati apartment.
“It appears Amarjyoti didn’t have any productive employment also used to take drugs. He was also very friendly with a lot of women, which led to friction between him and his wife. Due to this, Shankari Dey left the couple and moved to another apartment which she owned in Chandmari area,” said Barah.
“At some point, Bandana Kalita seems to have decided to get rid of her husband and mother-in-law with help of her two close friends. It may have been to secure the properties of both or may have been due to torture she suffered at her husband’s hands. The motive is not very clear as yet,” he added.
Police say Shankari Dey and her son owned several properties/apartments at Chandmari and Noomati areas of Guwahati and used to earn a substantial amount every month as rent from them. Barah said while Bandana Kalita is very close to both Dhanti Deka and Arup Deka, the exact nature of their relationships is not clear yet.
“Though there was some delay initially in this case, we have been able to unearth the murders after review. Our investigations are still on and we hope to recover body parts of the husband soon. Forensic examination and DNA tests will reveal the identities of the victims. We are confident that based on scientific investigation, we will be able to establish a watertight case against all three accused,” said Barah.
