With help of friends, man beats estranged wife to death over taking son to paternal home

Khunti, Jul 15 (PTI) A 25-year-old woman and her relative were allegedly beaten to death by her estranged husband and his friends in Jharkhand's Khunti district over her taking their five-year-old son to her paternal home, police said on Wednesday. The victims were identified as Neha Thakur (25) and Arun Kumar Rana (21), both residents of Badgaon village in Lohardaga district. Khunti SDPO Mangal Singh Jamuda claimed Neha's husband Kundan Pramanik confessed during interrogation that he, along with his friends Jitendra Singh (30) and Ritesh Chik Badaik (18), abducted Neha and Arun following an altercation over her taking their five-year-old son to her parental home. The three allegedly forced the victims into a four-wheeler, assaulted them with an iron rod and crushed their faces with stones before throwing their bodies from the bridge, he said. The bodies were found under a bridge over the Tajna river in the Khunti police station area on July 10. Besides Kundan and his two friends, police said they have also arrested his elder brother Madan Pramanik (48), sister Sita Devi (38), and brother-in-law Vijay Ranjan Sharma. Jamuda said Kundan's brother, sister and brother-in-law were arrested for allegedly helping him destroy evidence and for not informing the police despite knowing about the crime. Police have recovered the four-wheeler allegedly used in the offence, the iron rod, Arun's motorcycle, four mobile phones, among other materials, he said. PTI RPS RPS SOM