Siliguri: An illicit affair, a carefully laid trap and a gruesome attempt to erase a man’s identity — Bagdogra police have unravelled a murder conspiracy that ended with a Bihar man’s beheaded body being dumped in a north Bengal tea garden. Within 48 hours, investigators arrested five people, including the victim’s wife and her alleged lover.Investigators alleged that an extramarital affair culminated in a meticulously planned murder in which the victim was hacked to death, beheaded and his mutilated body dumped in a tea garden, while his severed head was hidden nearly five kilometres away to frustrate efforts to identify him.The victim, Imam, a resident of Kishanganj district in Bihar, worked as a traditional faith healer, or Ojha. Police said he frequently travelled to Siliguri, where his in-laws live.The accused are the victim’s wife, Tumpa Ghosh alias Momina Begum; her alleged lover, Sudip Pal of Chandal Jote in Bagdogra; Sudip’s nephews, Bapi Pal and Nitai Pal of Jalpaiguri; and their friend, Kaushik Nath. They were produced before the Siliguri sub-divisional court on Thursday, which rejected their bail pleas and remanded all five to seven days of police custody.The crime came to light on Tuesday morning when tea garden workers in Haskhowa Tea Garden stumbled upon a blood-soaked, headless body. An identity card recovered from the body eventually led police to Imam’s family in Bihar, who later identified him at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.An overnight search for the missing head yielded nothing. But as investigators pieced together Imam’s final movements, suspicion quickly centred on his wife and her alleged lover. Sustained interrogation, backed by circumstantial evidence, unravelled what police described as a carefully hatched conspiracy.According to investigators, Imam and Momina Begum had been married for around a decade and worked together as Ojhas. Momina allegedly began a relationship with Sudip around seven years ago. Sudip, who is married and has two sons, had once been Imam’s friend.Police alleged that Imam eventually became an obstacle to the relationship. The couple allegedly decided to eliminate him, with Sudip recruiting his two nephews and a friend to execute the plan.Investigators claimed Sudip called Imam on Monday afternoon and persuaded him to travel from Kishanganj to Bagdogra on the pretext of a meeting. Later that night, Imam was allegedly ambushed with a sharp weapon, hacked to death, his throat slit and his head severed before the body was dumped in the tea garden.“Following sustained interrogation after the arrest of the five accused police recovered the victim’s severed head and the sharp weapon believed to have been used in the murder from an abandoned walled property at Munshibari village in Tawajote, Phansidewa, around five kilometres from the crime scene. Forensic examination of the recovered weapon and other evidence is underway. Investigators are also reconstructing the sequence of events and examining the individual role of each accused in planning and carrying out the murder”, said a police officer.Police commissioner Syed Waqar Raza said, “Five people have been arrested in connection with the murder. Preliminary investigation suggests the crime was committed because of an extramarital relationship. Every aspect of the case is being thoroughly investigated.”
