The Taloja police have arrested a 23-year-old woman and her lover for allegedly killing her husband and then dumping his body in a jute sack at a construction site last week.
The accused duo smothered him to death even as the couple’s four-year-old son was sleeping in the same room. A local court on Friday remanded the duo in judicial custody.
Ranju Manjhi was married to Manoj, 31, and around six months ago, they arrived in Taloja from Orissa with their son to work as construction labourers. Shortly after their arrival, Manoj’s friend from village Kartik Kaushik, 26, followed them to the city and rented a small room next to theirs at a chawl in Sector 20 in Taloja.
Police said, Manoj suspected Kartik and Ranju’s relationship and would often fight with her accusing her of infidelity. In the intervening night of November 3 and 4, Kartik went to Manoj’s house to get rid of him.
“Ranju held Manoj’s legs and Kartik smothered him with a pillow and strangulated him with his hand. The accused then bundled his body in a jute sack and kept it in the same room overnight,” said Sudhir Nikam, assistant inspector at Taloja police station.
Next day, they dumped the body in a pile of garbage near a construction site.
On November 7, workers raised a stink about a foul smell from the heap of garbage. Thinking of it as an animal’s corpse, a few of them moved the garbage and found a stuffed jute bag. When they opened it, they found Manoj’s semi-decomposed body.
Soon after the police was informed, Manoj’s body was sent for an autopsy.
“When we inquired with the workers, we learnt Manoj’s wife was not seen for the last couple of days. His friend Kartik was also missing, which was suspicious. Our team then started looking for the duo. When we found Kartik, he was packing up in a hurry,” said another officer from Taloja police station.
While Kartik was arrested then, Ranju was held a day later from a nearby locality.
