In a disturbing case of a love triangle gone wrong, a 26-year-old man was strangled to death and his body stuffed into a suitcase—allegedly by the girl’s cousin—in Tripura.
What Led to This
Shariful Islam, a resident of Agartala who was working with the Smart City Project, went missing on June 8. Reportedly, he was in love with a 20-year-old girl. She lived in Bankumari under the East Agartala Police Station and had recently lost her father.
West Tripura’s Superintendent, Kiran Kumar, said the girl’s cousin—an MBBS graduate from Bangladesh—was also in love with her. He allegedly wanted to physically exploit her, but couldn’t do it because her boyfriend was around. When he got a sense that the couple had fought, he decided to take advantage of the situation and planned the murder. Reports also mentioned that he was a frequent visitor at the girl’s house.
The reason behind it (murder) was a love triangle. Shariful had an affair with a girl. Dibakar, who is cousin of the girl, also fell in love with her. We found love message exchanged from both of their mobile phones. We arrested six persons in this case till now.Superintendent of Police, Kiran Kumar
The Sequence of Events
As per reports, the girl’s cousin, Dr. Dibakar Saha, allegedly called Shariful to his relative Joydeep’s house in South Indranagar on June 8. There, in the presence of Joydeep, Nabanita, and Animesh, he strangled him to death.
The group then tied Shariful’s hands and packed his body into a suitcase. After that, the accused reportedly called his parents to Agartala from Gandacherra.
Police said his parents came by car and took the suitcase. They then hid it inside the ice cream freezer of their shop.
"Accordingly, his parents came to Agartala with a car and took the trolley bag to Gandacherra. They concealed the body in an ice-cream freezer in their shop," said Kiran Kumar, Superintendent of Police, to Press Trust of India.
How the Police Cracked the Case
The investigation began when Shariful’s family filed a missing persons complaint on June 9 at the New Capital Complex Police Station, a day after he disappeared.
The first person police suspected was the girl’s cousin, Dr. Dibakar Saha, who was taken into custody. Based on his statement given on Wednesday, the police recovered Shariful’s body from the freezer and sent it for post-mortem. After the procedure, the body was handed over to his family.
So far, six people have been arrested in connection with the case: Dr. Dibakar Saha (28), his father Deepak Saha (52), his mother Devika Saha (40), Nabanita Das (25), Joydeep Das (20), and Animesh Yadav (21).
Next Steps
With the main accused and others in custody, the investigation is on to uncover more details behind this disturbing murder plot.
(Input From Various Sources)
(Rehash/Pooja Bansal/MSM)