Mumbai Crime: Two held for brutal murder of 27-year-old woman in Naigaon

Victim’s husband chopped her head off but forgot she had two tattoos on her left hand, which helped cops identify her, and led to the arrest of the husband and his brother

Husbands forgetting crucial facts about their wives have led to many a marital argument but in this case, forgetting that his wife had a tattoo on her left hand led a Naigaon resident straight to prison. The Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar (MBVV) police on Saturday arrested Mintu Singh and his brother Chunchun for the murder of Mintu’s wife Anjali, after which they are alleged to have dismembered her body and disposed of the parts.

According to the MBVV police, a suitcase containing the dead body of a woman washed ashore at the Uttan beach on Friday morning. It was spotted by a morning walker, who informed the police, and the cops opened it to find a headless body, hacked into two parts. While examining the body before sending it for post mortem examination, the police spotted an ‘Aum’ and a trident tattooed on the left hand of the deceased, which provided the first crucial clue. 

“We visited more than 40 tattoo artists in the Naigaon area, till we found the one who had tattooed both the symbols on the hand of the deceased. Using the artist’s help, we were able to identify the deceased as Anjali Singh, 27, a resident of the Raj Emerald Society in Naigaon East,” said an officer with the MBVV police. Anjali’s husband, Mintu, was taken in for inquiries and after sustained questioning, allegedly broke down and confessed to having killed her. 

“Mintu, in his confession, has said that Anjali worked in the catering business and would frequently go out of station for 12 to 15 days at a time, which led him to suspect that she was cheating on him. This was the reason behind repeated arguments between the couple, and on May 24, they had a similar fight, during which Mintu smashed her head against the wall and then strangled her to death,” the officer said. 

He added that Mintu subsequently called up his brother, Chunchun, and together, the procured a large knife and hacked the body, separating the head from the torso and further chopping the torso at the waist. The two pieces of the torso were stuffed in a suitcase, which was tossed in the sea near Naigaon, while the head was disposed of somewhere else. The duo even took Mintu’s two-year-old son with them when they set out to dump the suitcase in the sea, officers said. 

“Mintu had chopped up the body thinking it would make it difficult for investigators to identify it if it was ever found, but seems to have forgotten about the tattoos on the hand, which were completely intact,” the officer said. Mintu and Chunchun have been arrested and charged with murder and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code, and the police are now trying to find the head. 

Officers said that they have already found Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of the duo on a scooter with the suitcase, and are further scanning the footage for leads as to where they disposed of the head. The accused, who have been remanded in police custody till June 8, are also being  interrogated in this regard.

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