Guwahati twin murder: Motive is still not known, say police

In the sensational twin murder case in Guwahati, where a woman has been charged with killing her husband and mother-in-law, chopping their bodies into multiple pieces, and later disposing of the body parts in some other place, the police said that the actual motive behind this gruesome crime is still not known.

The murders happened in July and August last year, but came to light only on Monday.

Diganta Barah, the Commissioner of Police, told reporters here, "The accused -- Bandana Kalita -- filed a missing complaint at the police station for her husband Amarjyoti Dey and mother Shankari Dey, allegedly after killing both of them. She even alleged that the police were not doing enough to trace the missing duo."

Shankari Dey was a retired state government employee, and she used to live in the city's Noonmati area while her son Amarjyoti Dey was living in Narengi.

"Nirmalya Dey, the nephew of Sankari Dey, had also filed an FIR in Novemnber last year at Noonmati police station suspecting probable kidnapping of her aunt. Unfortunately, the police could not find much clue in both the missing cases," the officer said.

However, when Nirmalya Dey later approached the Assam CID, a special team was formed to investigate the whole incident. Meanwhile, the accused Kalita also went to the Police Commissioner's office demanding a fresh probe.

The special team noted some anomalies in the statements of Nirmalya Dey and Bandana Kalita and initiated an interrogation of them.

"Though Bandana Kalita initially tried to mislead the police more than once, after two days of thorough interrogation, she broke down and confessed her crime," Barah added.

Narrating the chain of events, the officer said that Kalita killed her husband and mother-in-law with the help with two of her close friends, Dhanki Deka and Arup Deka.

On July 26 last year, Kalita went to Shankari Dey's house with Arup Deka, strangled the lady to death, and later beheaded her with a sharp machete. The body was later cut into three pieces.

In the meantime, her other associate, Dhanki Deka, was waiting outside the house with polythene bags. They packed the body parts in polythene bags, covered them with rugs, and drove to the Shillong-Cherapunjee Road in neighbouring Meghalaya in the wee hours of July 27 to dispose of the body parts and the murder weapon.

"On August 17, Kalita, Arup Deka, and Dhanki Deka went to Amarjit Dey's house and hit him with a heavy rod. As Dey lay unconscious, his head was chopped off and his body was cut into five pieces. The next morning, the trio followed the earlier tactic and disposed of the body parts in a dense forest in Meghalaya's Dawki area," Barah said.

The senior police officer added that Dhanki Deka has been arrested from Tinsukia, while another accused, Arup Deka, was nabbed by the police in Guwahati.

"A special police team went with the accused persons to the place where Shankari Dey's body was disposed of. Some of the body pieces could be recovered and efforts are on to retrieve Amarjit Dey's body parts," the officer said.

When Barah was asked about the motive behind the heinous crime, he said, "A lot of investigation needs to be carried out to reach a conclusion."