Woman, infant grandchild's bodies found

Kolkata: In what appeares to be a case of double-murder, an aged woman and her newborn grand-daughter were found murdered in the outskirts of the city.

Mystery shrouded the recovery of septuagenarian Sayera Bewa’s body by the police from a pond at Uttarbhag in Baruipur late on Monday night.

Additional superintendent of police Saikat Ghosh, who inspected the spot, said, “A case with murder charge was initiated. Sayera’s grand-daughter of barely 20 days was however missing. In the morning, the newborn too was found in the pond during a search by the police.”

Her mother, Murshida Bibi, confessed to the police of killing her child and 71-year-old mother in a fit of rage, sources claimed. She told the police that she had hit her mother with a shovel to kill her before strangulating her newborn daughter to death, sources revealed adding that the two bodies were thrown in the pond later.

Both bodies were sent for post-mortem. Murshida was detained by the police as she has been found mentally unstable. She told the police that she killed her mother because she recently insisted her to visit a doctor for a check-up after the delivery of her child.

She also suspected her husband, Azizul Mollah, of having an illicit affair. The double-murder came to light after Azizul returned home from work at night. After repeated knocks when he did not get any response, he started looking for them around his tile-roof home made of bamboo.

According to Azizul, he suddenly heard the scream of his wife from a septic tank at a neighbour’s house. Murshida, with her hands and legs tied, was rescued by him and their neighbours. Her revelations led to the recovery of Sayera’s body with a deep injury mark on her head. A shovel was also recovered from the spot.

Azizul has also been detained by the police for questioning.

On October 22, a youth, Sona Sardar, was found dead in the same pond. Sona’s family had then blamed Azizul for his death. Furious over the twin murder, the villagers blocked Baruipur-Canning Road for two hours. The road blockade was withdrawn after the police intervened.