Mumbai Crime: Father-in-law held for killing woman, stuffing her in sack

Father-in-law Kamal Rai and the two other suspects in the custody of the Malwani police on Wednesday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Nearly a week after a woman's body, stuffed in a sack, washed up on Aksa beach, the police have arrested her father-in-law and two men on the charge of killing her. Main suspect Kamal Rai, 55, told the police that he was angry after his son married victim Nandini Thakur, who belonged to a different caste.

"The couple got married three years ago. Kamal said his family was ostracised in their native place in Bihar after his son's marriage," said a police source. On December 9, when his son Pankaj went to their hometown, Kamal gave Rs 70,000 to two auto drivers - Krishna Singh, 30, and Pradeep Gupta, 40, - to kill Nandini, the source added.

"Singh smothered Nandini with a pillow while Gupta and Kamal held her limbs. They stuffed the body in a gunny bag and dumped it in a nullah in Kandivli East," the source said. While Nandini's father, a Sakinaka resident, filed a missing persons complaint with the Samta Nagar police, Kamal left for Bihar, raising suspicion.

After recovering the body on on December 24, the Malwani police they went through the missing complaints and learnt about Nandini's disappearance. The body was then identified by her father.

The cops then called Kamal to Mumbai and grilled him. "He has confessed to the crime. We have arrested Gupta from Mirzapur, while Singh was held in Mumbai. The trio has been remanded in police custody," said a police officer.