Another case similar to the Shraddha-murder case from New Delhi has come to light in Jharkhand, where a tribal woman who eloped and married a man from the Muslim community is found killed and chopped into more than a dozen pieces.

The woman married the man in August, and became his second wife. Besides her husband, several members of her in-law family including her husband’s first wife have been arrested for the crime.

On Saturday evening, locals in Santhali Momin Tola area of Sahebganj district in Jharkhand, which falls under Borio Police Station, reportedly discovered pieces of a body strewn around. 

They informed the police, who began investigation in the case.

The mutilated body was identified as that of Rabita Pahadin, who had reportedly married Mohammed Dildar Ansari in August and had only recently moved to the area to live with her in-laws. 

The police arrested Dildar Ansari as a key suspect. Later, they arrested six more members of his family including his parents Mustakim and Mariyam, Dildar’s first wife Gulera, Dildar’s siblings Ameer, Mehtab and Shareja. 

Involvement of an eighth person — Dildar’s maternal uncle Mominul Haq, is also suspected.

News agency ANI quoted Sahebganj superitendent of police (SP) as saying, “12 parts of the body of a 22-yr-old woman belonging to primitive tribal community found in Sahibganj. Some parts of body still missing & search for them is underway. Her husband Dildar Ansari has been detained by Police, the deceased was his second wife.”

The agency also quoted Santhal DIG Sudarshan Prasad Mandal as saying that the woman was second wife of Dildar, which was a cause for dispute in the family. 

He said the woman’s body was chopped in 18 pieces. Some reports, however, say the body’s was chopped into 50 pieces and only a dozen pieces have been found so far. 

The body was chopped allegedly by an electric cutter.

The Aaftab-Shraddha Case

On 11 November, the Delhi Police arrested Aaftab Ameen Poonawalla, 27, for murdering his live-in partner Shraddha, 26.

As per police, Aaftab killed Shraddha on 18 May by strangling her, in Mehrauli area of the capital city. 

To dispose of the body, he bought a large refrigerator, chopped Shraddha’s body into 35 pieces and stored them in plastic bags. Over the next two weeks, he threw away the pieces in the nearby jungle in the nights. 

The murder came to light when Shraddha’s father Vikas Madan Walkar learnt from one of her friends that she had been unreachable over phone for several weeks, and filed a missing person complaint in Vasai (West) Police Station of Palghar district in Maharashtra. 

Both Aaftab and Shraddha lived in Vasai with their families when they came in contact with each other. 

They first moved in together in Vasai, much to the disapproval of her family that objected to Aaftab’s Muslim identity, before shifting to New Delhi a month before Shraddha’s murder.