Image for representation purpose only.
GUWAHATI
The Assam Police have arrested an Army officer from Haryana for allegedly murdering a married woman from Tamil Nadu.
A pendant found on the body of the woman, acquired from a temple in Coimbatore, led to the arrest of Lt. Col Amrinder Singh Walia, police said.
The officer is attached to the Army’s 4 Corps headquarters in eastern Assam’s Tezpur as the Defence Public Relations Officer.
The body of the woman, identified as that of 36-year-old Vandhana Shree from Chennai, was found in a plastic bag, off the national highway in Kamrup district’s Changsari, about 23 km north of Guwahati.
“The Army officer was arrested from Tezpur on Friday night, produced before a local court today (Saturday) and sent to judicial custody,” Kamrup’s Superintendent of Police, Hitesh Chandra Roy told The Hindu on Saturday.
On the trail
Deputy Inspector-General (Central-Western Range) Brajenjit Singha, who supervised the police investigation, said his team followed the only clue — a rectangular silver pendant with an engraved image of a goddess — the deceased was wearing.
“We searched on the internet and learnt that the image is associated with the Ma Linga Bhairavi Temple in Coimbatore. I sent an email to the temple authority with the photos of the pendant and the woman attached, seeking information about her,” he said.
The temple authority responded with the name, a mobile number and residential address of a woman who resembled the victim. “The father of the woman took the call and said she had left for Varanasi a few days ago along with her four-year-old daughter,” Mr. Singha said.
“Further investigation revealed she went to Delhi from Varanasi and reached Guwahati by the Rajdhani Express at 7:20 p.m. on February 14. We also came to know the accused came from Tezpur to receive her,” he said.
The police also learnt that the accused took the child to Kolkata by train after her mother was killed, and abandoned her at the Howrah railway station before returning to Assam. The Assam Police rescued the child and brought her to Guwahati.
