Mother-daughter followed plan, killed relative out of greed for her assets: Kolkata Police
KOLKATA: A woman and her daughter, arrested in Kolkata for the murder of a female relative, meticulously planned the crime to seize her assets, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
The duo was caught red-handed by locals while attempting to dump a suitcase containing body parts of the victim into the Hooghly River at a ghat in north Kolkata’s Ahiritola area on Tuesday. The victim, identified as 55-year-old Sumita Ghosh, had travelled from Jorhat in Assam to stay with the accused.
Investigators have not ruled out the involvement of a third male suspect in the dismemberment of the body. The post-mortem revealed that Ghosh fell unconscious due to "torture by the two women" and eventually died.
The autopsy further suggested that the murder occurred at least 36 hours before the body was mutilated and packed into a suitcase. The remains were then transported to Kolkata from Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas, where the accused lived in a rented house.
According to police, the accused used a ‘boti’ (a traditional vegetable and fish cutter) to sever the victim’s legs at the ankle so the body could fit inside the suitcase. They later wrapped the body parts in a large plastic bag.
“It is suspected that a third person, probably a man, assisted the two in dismembering the leg, and we are investigating this angle as well,” an officer from Kolkata Police’s Detective Department said.
Police are planning to deploy divers to retrieve the ‘boti’ from a pond beside the accused’s rented accommodation in Madhyamgram, where they allegedly discarded it.
"The two women have claimed that they hit the deceased on her head with a blunt object, but this seems untrue. The post-mortem suggested there were no lacerated wounds on her head," the officer stated.
"It also pointed out that there were several hematomas (clotted blood in an organ, tissue, or body space), which were probably caused by repeatedly banging the victim’s head against a wall. And it was the daughter who murdered the victim," he added.
Investigations revealed that the blue trolley bag used to dispose of the body was purchased from Kolkata’s Burrabazar area on Monday. The daughter had also visited a jewellery shop and placed an order for ornaments worth Rs 50,000.
"This was a premeditated murder and not a crime committed in a fit of rage. Circumstantial evidence and their statements confirm that they had planned to kill the woman. The daughter had assaulted the victim multiple times, causing injuries. There were wounds on several parts of her body," the officer said.
Police believe the murder was motivated by greed, as the victim owned multiple properties in Jorhat, Assam, and had gold jewellery stored in a bank locker. Investigators also found that the PIN of her debit card was recently changed, and on Monday, the daughter withdrew approximately Rs 25,000 from an ATM.
"There have been withdrawals from the victim’s bank account, which had a balance of Rs 3.5 lakh. It appears that the two accused were after her assets," the officer added. Police have seized three mobile phones from their possession.
The mother and daughter were produced before a Kolkata court and remanded to one-day police custody. Since the murder took place in Madhyamgram, the court ordered Barasat Police to take over the investigation.
"The accused will be produced in a Barasat court tomorrow," the officer said.