Bangladeshi Woman's Body Found in Bengal With Throat Slit, Face Burnt Beyond Recognition; 1 Arrested

West Bengal Police on Friday said a man has been arrested in alleged connection with the killing of a woman whose body, with throat slit and face burnt beyond recognition, was found in North 24 Parganas’ Swarupnagar near the international border three days ago. The accused was held on Thursday night in Bikhari village.

At a press conference, Basirhat Police District SP, Joby Thomas SK, said that based on a preliminary probe, the victim was identified as a Bangladeshi named Sumaia Akhtar, a resident of Shyampur locality of Dhaka.

The woman’s body, with hands and legs tied, was found by locals in an uninhabited place in the Swarupnagar area, nearly a kilometre from the international border, on September 26 morning.

The woman, in her 20s, was employed in a beauty parlour in Mumbai and was returning home when she was killed apparently for money, police said. “Such people generally carry a good amount of money and ornaments while returning to Bangladesh. But no such thing was there in the victim’s bag which was found near the body. So, we suspect that those were looted from her before being murdered,” Thomas was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

From her bag, the police had found a spectacle case bearing an address of Faridpur in Bangladesh, which helped the force ascertain her identity. “We already talked to her family members. They will be coming here. Details will emerge after we interrogate the arrested man,” the SP said, adding, “The police are not yet sure whether the victim entered India legally. We hope to get information on it only after her family members reach here from Dhaka.”

BJP Vs TMC

The incident led to a heated exchange of words between the TMC and the BJP on Friday. The BJP vehemently attacked the TMC, accusing West Bengal’s ruling party of letting loose a reign of terror in the state.

“I am shocked…An unfortunate incident from West Bengal has come to the fore. This reminds how crimes against women are continuously happening in Bengal,” Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi told reporters in Delhi.

“Mamata Banerjee, who talks about 'maa mati manush' (mother, land and people), has today turned the state into the land of bomb, bullet, and injustice with daughter,” she said and demanding strict action against the perpetrators.

Targeting Banerjee over the incident, BJP’s co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya shared a purported video clip of the woman’s partially charred body on X and wrote, “This is the situation of law and order in West Bengal… But Mamata Banerjee won’t utter a word.” “It won’t be a surprise if criminals, patronised by the TMC, involved in women trafficking, are behind this. But then it would mean a silent burial to the tragic death,” he said.

Responding to the BJP’s allegations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh dubbed it baseless and said, “The victim is a Bangladeshi woman. Areas up to 50 km from the border are under the jurisdiction of the BSF, which comes under Amit Shah Ji’s union home ministry. So, what was the BSF doing? How did she cross the border? The BJP should first answer this.”

He said the West Bengal police had done a commendable job by arresting an accused.

(with inputs from PTI)