Man strangles live-in partner, entombs under marble platform

In a grisly incident, a 32-year-old man allegedly strangled his live-in partner, whom he had befriended on social media, and entombed her body under a marble platform at his residence here.

The accused, Udayan Das, was arrested yesterday, over a month after he allegedly killed Akanksha (28). She had told her parents that she was living in the US but they became suspicious after losing contact with her in December last year.

The body of the woman, who hailed from Bankura in West Bengal, was exhumed in the wee hours today and it took police six hours to recover it, they said.
 

The accused allegedly strangled the woman, stuffed the body in an iron box, then put it in a larger box before constructing a marble platform over it to hide the crime.

"West Bengal police have arrested Udyan here on charges of murdering his live-in partner Akanksha alias Shweta Sharma. The accused admitted to killing her in December last year and then burying the body under a marble platform on the first floor of his house," Govindpura City Superintendent of Police Virendra Mishra told PTI today.

"We exhumed the body from under the platform at around 4 AM with the help of drilling machines. It has been sent for post mortem and further interrogation is underway," he said.

The incident came to light yesterday when West Bengal Police arrived here in search of Akanksha following a complaint lodged by her father Shivendra Sharma.

According to police, Udyan had befriended the victim on a social media site.

The accused told the police that in a fit of rage he strangulated Akanksha in the last week of December 2016, after they had a dispute over an issue.

"The accused poured in cement inside an iron box after stuffing the body. He then put the box inside a bigger box and again filled cement in it. These boxes were then covered with a marble platform," he said.

Police, however, said the accused has been changing his statements on various aspects, including his relationship with the victim.

"Das initially said that he had married Akanksha at the local BHEL Kalibadi temple. Later, he said that he married her in New York. But it was found that he never visited New York. So, we are still in the process of ascertaining the details given by him," an officer at Govindpura police station said.