india

Updated: Oct 12, 2019 20:23 IST

Even as investigators were struggling to crack the gruesome triple murder in Bengal’s Jiaganj, Bengal Police on Saturday arrested two sisters, aged 19 and 20, on charges of killing their mother, who was the headmistress of a primary school.

The body of Kalpana Dey Sarkar (Roy), who was the headmistress of Purba Collegepara primary school in Raiganj, about 400 km away from Kolkata, was fished out from a pond in North Dinajpur district.

Before the cops took the sisters, Shreya and Ritika away, angry villagers verbally thrashed them alleging they murdered their 53-year-old mother.

“Police arrested the sisters and charged them with murder. Cops are trying to track down another person, who seems to have a connection with the crime,” said Sumit Kumar, Superintendent of Police in North Dinajpur.

Locals said that though the headmistress was missing since October 6, the daughters did not lodge any missing complaint.

“We thought that my mother had gone to my maternal uncle’s house and would return. Therefore, we did not search for her,” said Shreya before the police took her away.

A police officer of Raiganj said on condition of anonymity that during interrogation Shreya, a first-year college student, broke down and confessed that she killed her mother with the help of her boyfriend.

“We came to know that the headmistress was opposed to her daughter tying the knot with her boyfriend. She also did not like her daughter’s friends visiting their house regularly. The relationship between the two might have soured as a result,” said the officer.

Cops also said that on the night of October 6, Shreya killed her mother with a grinding stone used in the kitchen. She was helped by her boyfriend and her sister. The body was later dumped in the pond not far from their house.

“We could never imagine that the woman would be killed by her own daughters. We are sure that the police would take necessary steps to ensure proper punishment for the duo,” said Ashim Adhikari, councillor of ward 25 of Raiganj municipality, where the three lived.

Adhikari said he earlier advised the headmistress to lodge a police complaint against her daughters after she had alleged that they would inflict physical and mental torture on her. “But she did not do so, probably out of affection,” said Adhikari.

Kalpana’s husband, Ranjit Roy, died about 12 years ago.