GUWAHATI: The investigation surrounding the pendant of a murder victim has led the Assam police to a senior Army officer, Lt Col AS Walia, the Defence Public Relations Officer attached to the Army’s 4 Corps headquarters in Tezpur in Assam.
The officer was arrested on Friday for allegedly murdering a married woman, identified as Bandhya Sri, from Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The officer, who is from Haryana, was held from the 4 Corps headquarters by Changchari police in Kamrup. He was on Saturday produced in a local court, which sent him to 7-day police custody.
The police recovered the woman’s body near National Highway-31 at Changchari, 23 km from Guwahati, on February 15 morning. Kamrup SP Hitesh Ch Roy told this newspaper the two were in a relationship. “We are trying to find out the motive,” the SP said.
DGP GP Singh entrusted DIG Brajenjit Singha to supervise the probe. Singha said the pendant, which the deceased was wearing, was the only clue. “We learnt that the image on the pendant is of the goddess Ma Linga Bhairavi temple in Coimbatore,” said Singha.
The temple authorities gave the officer the details of a woman, including her name, a mobile number and her residential address, stating that she was possibly the victim.
Her father identified her and said she had left for Varanasi a few days ago along with her infant daughter. “From Varanasi, she went to Delhi and reached Guwahati on February 14. We also learnt that the officer received her there,” Singha said. The accused has told police that he had a fight with the deceased and he murdered her in a fit of rage.