Bathinda: An Air Force Sergeant from Bhisiana air force station in Punjab, and his wife have been arrested for allegedly murdering a colleague, chopping his body into pieces and stuffing it into polythene bags.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, police found pieces of the body of Vipin Shukla, a corporal in the Air Force Wives Welfare Association Canteen, stuffed in 16 polythene bags and hidden in different parts of the accused’s quarters.
Shukla had been missing before his body was recovered in pieces. The accused, Sulesh Kumar, and his wife Anuradha have been arrested and booked under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which relates to murder. However, Sulesh’s brother-in-law Shashi Bhushan, who worked in the Merchant Navy, is absconding, said the report.
Shukla (27), a resident of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, joined the airforce in 2009 and was posted at the Bhisiana airforce station in May 2014. He went missing on February 8, said the report.
After his wife Kumkum complained to the police, a case of kidnapping was registered against unknown persons at Bathinda’s Nathana police station on February 15.
During a search in the area, the police detected a foul smell emanating from Sulesh Kumar’s residential quarters on Tuesday. Soon, they discovered Shukla’s cut-up body.
Kumar has confessed to his crime and claimed his motivation was Sulesh’s illict sexual relationship with his wife Anuradha.
“After discovering she was pregnant, Anuradha asked Vipin to marry her but he refused. He had also been spreading details of their relationship among other employees. Thus, Anuradha, with her husband and brother hatched a conspiracy to murder Vipin for revenge,” the Superintendent of Police at Bathinda was quoted as saying.
On the evening of February 8, Sulesh called Vipin to help him pack as he was to change his quarters, then attacked him with an axe, killing him. After packing Vipin Shukla’s body in a box, Sulesh took it to his new quarters.
On February 19, Sulesh cut the body into pieces with a meat knife and packed it in 16 polythene bags. He put some bags in the refrigerator and others in the wardrobe, the SP was quoted as saying.
The police are yet to ascertain how Sulesh planned to dispose of the body, said the report.
