Forty days after Robin Ruidas, a resident of Chanditala Junglepara village, went missing, his decomposed body was discovered on Sunday. Then, his wife and three of her family members were arrested.

Police exhumed Ruidas’s body, which was found buried half a kilometre away from his in-laws’ house, near a tubewell in Radhanagar village within the Jangipara police station area of Murshidabad district. Police said the body was exhumed after a marathon interrogation of Aparna Ruidas, who allegedly confessed to strangulation with a rope she used to tie goats.

According to police, the incident occurred on May 11 at Aparna’s parents’ house. Ruidas had reportedly gone there to visit his two children and wife. Aparna had been living with their children at her parents’ home for the past seven years.

A missing person’s report for Robin Ruidas was initially filed on May 13. However, on June 22, his elder brother, Bablu Ruidas, filed a detailed complaint with the Jangipara police, specifically accusing Aparna of his brother’s murder. Following this, Aparna and the other accused were brought in for questioning.

“The police have arrested Aparna Ruidas, her father Joydeb Ruidas, brother Abhijit Ruidas, and brother-in-law Pradeep Patra. All four were produced before the Serampore Sub-divisional Court and have been remanded to police custody for four days,” said a police official. Police intend to take them to the crime scene for a reconstruction of the events.

The exhumation of the body was conducted in the presence of a magistrate, and the decomposed body has been sent for further examination.