The brother-in-law of Durga Sarkhel, whose severed body parts were found wrapped in polythene bags, was arrested for the murder on Thursday morning.
Police said the arrested person had confessed to his crime.
Durga’s husband, who is also a suspect in this case, is missing, police said.
One of Durga’s maternal relatives, who lives in Namak Mahal in the West Port area, said on Thursday that Durga had visited their house on Sunday and went back on Monday.
“The same night we received a call from Durga’s brother-in-law Nilanjan. He claimed that she had not returned home,” said one of Durga’s maternal
sisters.
The police suspect Durga was killed on Monday night.
CCTV footage from a camera installed on a building close to the Sarkhel residence at Hemchandra Street had shown Nilanjan cycling away with black plastic bags, an officer said.
“When he (Nilanjan) was asked about the footage, he said the footage does not prove anything,” an officer said.
Nilanjan Sarkhel was produced before the Alipore court on Thursday and remanded in police custody.
Chief public prosecutor Sourin Ghosal said taking Sarkhel in police remand was needed to find out if there were any co-conspirators in the crime and to find out the missing body parts of the woman.
“We submitted for police remand because several body parts are still missing. The police also need to find out the murder weapon and if more people are involved,” said Ghosal.
Sarkhel will be in police remand till April 16.
Durga’s head, a portion of her chest and her legs without her feet were found in three polythene bags in abandoned CISF barracks at Watgunge on Wednesday afternoon.
A fourth packet was also found but it was empty.
Her hands, her feet and portions of her torso are still missing.
The brick that was found inside the polythene bag that contained the head, had blood stains on it.
Durga had been married to Dhoni Sarkhel since 2007.
Her mother Kamal Devi Shaw said: “Dhoni and Durga had met when they were very young. Dhoni used to say that he would commit suicide if she did not marry him.”
The couple have a son who is now in Class X.
One of Durga’s sisters alleged that Nilanjan practiced black magic. “We were always scared that he (Nilanjan) would do some harm to Durga because of his weird practices,” one of the relatives alleged.
The family, unaware of Durga’s fate, started panicking on Tuesday after they saw news reports about a woman’s body parts being found in a place in Watgunge that was not far from Durga’s in-laws’ place.
The family tried to contact her desperately but failed.
“Finally on Wednesday evening they contacted the local West Port police station and shared information about Durga,” said an officer.
The police went to Durga’s in-laws to check and found that Durga was indeed missing.
Nilanjan Sarkhel was detained on Wednesday night and grilled for several hours before his arrest.
The police said they were examining the role of all the in-laws.
