Bihar police finds ‘illicit affair’ angle in murder case of 75-year-old man

The Bihar police claimed that the victim and the accused had an argument over a 30-year-old widow who works as a tea seller in Nalanda district

The Bihar police on Monday claimed to have resolved a murder case of a 75-year-old man in Nalanda district and said that the victim was killed by four persons including three above the age of 60 years after an argument over a 30-year-old widow who works as a tea seller.

The Bihar police claimed that the accused and the victim used to frequent the woman’s tea stall and had a ‘relation’ with her.

Police claimed that the accused and the victim used to frequent the woman’s tea stall and had a “relation” with her. They have arrested the five persons including the woman. One of the accused is of the same age of the woman, they added.

The body of the victim, Tripit Sharma, a resident of Ashthawan, was recovered on October 21 from a tank of an under-construction house and his mobile phone was found missing.

His son Mitthu lodged a murder case against unidentified persons with the Ashthawan police, which started the investigation.

Police said that the four accused were arrested on the basis of the woman’s statement.

“The woman had a relationship with all the four arrested, identified as Krishnandan Paswan (70), Basudeo Paswan (65), Banaras Prasad alias Loha Singh (62) and Suryamani Kumar (30),” Sadar sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Nalanda, Dr Shibli Nomani told HT.

According to the police, Sharma lost his wife 15 years ago and he had been living alone in a roadside hut for the past 10 years. He used to make weeding-knife and other agricultural equipment for a living. He has two sons – one works as a labourer in the same village while the second one works in Punjab.

Nomani said that Sharma offered to stay with the widow, a mother of a four-year-old son, but it did not go well with the other four.

“On October 19, the four took the woman into confidence and called Tripit Sharma to a secluded place and asked him to stay away from her. However, Sharma did not accept it. In a fit of rage, one of them hit Sharma with a brick and he died. Thereafter, all the five mutilated the body to prevent identification and dumped it in a tank,” the SDPO said.

Nomani said the police had focused on the woman from the day Sharma’s body was recovered, as she had been missing from the tea stall for several days after the incident. “She returned only after she got convinced that her name was not there in the case,” he added.

The missing mobile phone of Sharma was recovered from the possession of one of the accused, Basudeo Paswan.