Days after recovering woman's severed head from drain, police arrest her husband in Thane

Thane, Sep 3 (PTI) Five days after police recovered the severed head of a woman from a drain in Maharashtra's Thane district, her husband has been arrested on murder charge, but the motive behind the gruesome crime was not year clear, an official said on Wednesday.

Talking to reporters here, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Mohan Dahikar said it was on August 30 that the head of an unidentified woman was found in a creekside nullah on Idgah Road in Bhiwandi town.

Police sent the head for post-mortem examination to a government hospital and registered an offence under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103(1) (murder) and 238 (destruction of evidence) against unidentified persons.

They launched a probe and identified the woman as one Pravin alias Muskan Ansari (22), he said.

During the probe, police relied on several leads, including technical inputs, and traced the victim's husband, Mohmmad Taha Ansari (27), who was subsequently arrested on suspicion of killing his wife, said the DCP.

According to Dahikar, the motive behind the killing was not yet clear as the accused was giving different reasons and misleading police.

"We cannot rely on his statements," he maintained.

Another officer said police were taking the help of drone cameras to locate the remaining parts of the victim's body. PTI COR RSY