Bhinder murder: Woman’s legs were cut for silver bangles

The suspects abducted Meera from near her house, then strangulated her and snatched her ornaments. Then they also chopped her legs for the silver bangles worn by her in her legs, dragged her body to a nearby well and dumped it there.

With the arrest of a cousin duo, police claimed to have solved a murder mystery in which a woman was strangulated and her legs were chopped for her gold and silver jewellery in Bhinder area of Udaipur district.

Police suspect that the two arrested men – Shanti Lal Kalbelia and Bansi Lal Kalbelia, who have several cases registered against their names – could have been involved in other similar crimes in the city where women were robbed of their ornaments and killed.

Superintendent of police Rajendra Prasad Goyal said that police became suspicious of the duo’s involvement in the crime after victim Meera’s footwear was found outside their house and some pieces of her bangles were found inside.

According to police, the suspects revealed that they abducted Meera on July 10 from near her house in Bhinder and took her to Shanti Lal’s house where they strangulated her and snatched her ornaments. Then they also chopped her legs for the silver bangles worn by her in her legs, dragged her body to a nearby well and dumped it there.

The next morning the accused went to Bhinder Talab area where they met one Shamsher Khan and expressed their wish mortgage the ornaments, saying they were in urgent need of money. Shamsher introduced them to a goldsmith Ranjeet Modi, police said.

After mortgaging the ornaments against cash the duo fled to two different places to hide. Meanwhile, after getting some clues of their involvement in Meera’s brutal murder, a police team led by additional SP Anant Kumar launched a manhunt for the two suspects and arrested them on Monday.

While Shanti Lal was nabbed from Akola village in Chittorgarh, Bansi Lal was arrested from Sabla village of Dungarpur, police said. About 490 grams of silver ornaments were recovered from the accused, police said, adding that they were still searching for the other articles and the murder weapon.

Police said they would produce them in court on Tuesday seeking their custody for further investigation. Police have also learnt that Shanti Lal is the son of Bhamroo Kalbelia who was tied by the villagers with a tree after a murder suspecting him to be the murderer, the SP said.