LUCKNOW: In a gruesome murder, a man allegedly strangulated his 27-year-old pregnant wife, chopped the body into pieces and grinded them in a flour mill. He later burnt the heap of flesh and bones and dumped the remains in a gunny bag on the outskirts of Rae Bareli district.

Acting on a complaint by the victim’s family, the police have arrested the accused and recovered the charred remains which have been sent to

Laboratory in Lucknow for

.

Police said the murder took place on January 4, but came to light on Tuesday after the victim’s elder daughter, who witnessed the crime, reached her maternal grandmother’s house and narrated the incident.

CO, Salon, Vineet Singh told TOI that one Ravindra Kumar dialled UP 112 on January 4 and informed the cops that his wife Urmila has gone missing. Urmila was married to Ravindra (35) in 2011 and the couple have two daughters, aged 7 and 11. According to police, Ravindra wanted a boy in the family and was suspecting that Urmila would deliver a baby girl again.

“After a complaint by the woman’s family, a team visited Ravindra’s home and informed Deeh police. Cops tried to trace the woman but failed. On January 10, Urmila’s sister Vidya Devi reached Deeh police station and lodged a report against Ravindra accusing him of killing her sister,” the CO said.

Claiming that Ravindra’s elder daughter was an eyewitness to the murder, she also named Urmila’s father-inlaw Karamchandra and brothers-in-law Sanjeev and Brijesh.

The SHO sent a team to nab the accused but he was found missing from the house.

“We roped in an officer from Childline and talked to the girl who narrated how her mother was subjected to brutality on January 4,” the CO said, adding that six teams were formed which nabbed all the accused on Tuesday.

Ravindra spilled the beans during interrogation. He informed the cops that following a dispute, he strangulated his wife in a fit of rage and chopped the body with a sharp-edged weapon before grinding the pieces in a flour mill installed in his house.

Ravindra said he burnt the remains, packed the ash in a gunny bag and dumped it in thickets 4-km away from his house.