Our Special Correspondent
TURA:
A woman was bludgeoned to death during an argument over drinks and her body dumped in a stream to conceal the crime in the remote Nangalbibra coal region of South Garo Hills district.
Although the alleged murder occurred on May 7, the family was able to locate the body only on May 9 while scouting the forests for her.
A man from the victim’s village, who was last spotted accompanying the woman before her disappearance, was arrested on Tuesday and has reportedly confessed to the murder.
The 50-year-old woman Purnima Hajong was returning from Nangalbibra market when she disappeared. Her son had last seen the mother at Pahar Bhanga coming from the market with a neighbour from the same village.
Despite frantic search all around the area she could not be traced until Monday when the family found her slipper and blood spots next to a forest stream, Rongmiti Chiring. They spotted her body submerged underwater and rushed to inform police.
Based on the eyewitness accounts of her son, police took into custody Samson A Sangma of Agal Bazar who was last seen walking alongside the victim from the market place.
The arrested man told police that they had both consumed alcohol and later had an altercation during which he attacked her and smashed the head with a stone before dumping the body in the water.
Police are awaiting the post-mortem report to ascertain the full details of the murder.