It’s the latest incident to raise shockwaves among people of the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 fresh in their minds.
The police said a 25-year-old man, a butcher by profession, had strangulated his live-in partner and cut her body into 40-50 pieces in a forest area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, has been arrested. The issue came to light after nearly two weeks of the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near the Jordag village under Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhangra has been in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman from the Khunti district in Tamil Nadu, for the last couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything, and went back to the southern state without his wife to join him.
The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused, who had married another woman, did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested, Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh, who investigated the case, said he used to work in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was an expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand,” Singh told PTI.
The woman, who was unaware of Singh’s marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. Upon reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man’s village.
Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife,” Singh said.
