A 25-year-old butcher allegedly strangled his live-in partner and dismembered her body into 40-50 pieces in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police reported. The accused, Naresh Bhengra, has been arrested. The gruesome incident came to light nearly two weeks after the murder when a stray dog was spotted with human remains near Jordag village in the Jariagarh police station area on November 24.
Naresh Bhengra had been in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman from the same district, while they lived in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Recently, he returned to Jharkhand, married another woman without informing his partner, and then went back to Tamil Nadu alone to rejoin her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti SP Aman Kumar told PTI on Wednesday. Inspector Ashok Singh, who led the investigation, revealed that the accused worked at a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was skilled in slicing chicken.
“He admitted about chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a mutilated human hand," Singh told PTI.
Inspector Singh stated that the woman, unaware of Bhengra's marriage, urged him to return to Khunti. On November 24, they traveled to his village after boarding a train in Ranchi.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with a dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," the officer said.
Body parts and a bag containing the victim's belongings, including her Aadhaar card, were recovered from the forest. The woman’s mother identified the items. The incident has shocked the region, drawing parallels to the 2022 Shraddha Walker case, where a live-in partner similarly dismembered and disposed of the victim's body.