PATNA: A married man in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district hacked to death all the five members of a family because the head of the family kept resisting his demand to marry his 17-year-old daughter.
Topai Boipai, the accused, was arrested on Monday for the ghastly murders he perpetrated at Tulasain village under Gua police station. Police said he is suspected to have killed his co-villager Ram Singh Sirka, his wife, their two sons and their daughter, Mugi Sirka, who he had wanted to marry.
The arrest was made after four bodies were recovered on Sunday by policemen with the help of CRPF personnel and sniffer dogs in the jungles of Kolaisai, nearly 45 km off the village. The villagers had raised an alarm when all five members of the family mysteriously went missing on March 15. Ram Singh Sirka’s headless body was recovered from a nearby jungle on March 27.
Boipai, in his mid-30s, allegedly killed all the five people on March 14 evening with the help of eight accomplices. Police sources said when Sirka, 42, was away in the village market, Boipai entered his house and killed his wife Pano Kui, 40, their daughter Mugi alias Rambha, 17, and their two sons – Koda, 12 and Sona, 8. Boipai beheaded Sirka when he returned home later the same night.
The four bodies recovered on Sunday were in a highly decomposed condition, said police. They were sent to MGM Hospital in Jamshedpur for autopsy.
“The brutal murders were carried out with the help of traditional weapons. Nine people have been named as accused. the main accused, Boipai, was arrested. A hunt is on to nab the others,” said Kiriburu DSP Mohammad Taukir Alam.
Boipai is known as an influential and imperious man in the village. While the murders are believed to have been committed because of his failure to marry the minor girl, police are trying to ascertain the exact causes, said sources. Boipai and Sirka were also involved in a land dispute, they added.