Man kills sister-in-law, dumps body near New Katraj tunnel in Pune

PUNE: The Ambegaon police on Saturday recovered a decomposed body of around 25-year-old female, who went missing on March 18 from her home in Narhe, from a forest near New Katraj Tunnel.

The police also arrested victim's brother-in-law Prakash Tikhatri (30), who throttled her to death over an argument regarding their breakup.

Police said the suspect has been jobless and identified the deceased as Manisha Khamma Damai. "Prakash was married to Manisha's sister. Manisha was also married," inspector Gajanan Chormale of the Ambegaon police toldTOI. "The two and their families were from Nepal and worked as daily wage workers in parts of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad," the officer said.

Chormale said, "Prakash and Manisha would often go out together. Their families had objected to this on several occasions. On March 18, the two left their homes and met at a spot on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass. However, neither Prakash nor Manisha returned to their house and had been missing since then. Their families did not report the matter to police thinking that they might be spending time together as usual, but they kept searching for the two."

"On Saturday morning, Prakash returned to his home. His family asked him about the whereabouts of Manisha. He kept giving evasive replies. His brother then took him to the house of Manisha's family. There, too, he kept giving evasive answers," Chormale said.

"Manisha's relative then took him to the Narhe police station where the police questioned him. Prakash confessed to having throttled her to death and dumping her body in the forested area," Chormale said.

"Prakash then led Narhe and Ambegaon police teams to the spot where he had disposed of the body. The police recovered Manisha's decomposed body. Her relative, Kisan Parihar (25) of Narhe, lodged a complaint with the police on Saturday," the officer said.