Woman's body found in suitcase dumped in river: Latur cops arrest five, including her husband

Latur, Sep 4 (PTI) Latur police on Thursday said they had solved the case of a woman's body being found in a suitcase last month with the arrest of five persons, including her husband.

The decomposed body of the woman, in her early 20s, was found on August 24 in a suitcase dumped in Tiru river near Chakur-Shelgaon Phata under Vadwana police station limits, an official said.

"A probe team pieced together clues from the suitcase brand, clothing labels, ornaments, and forensic reports. Teams checked more than 300 missing person reports and 70 cases of abduction from Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat. CCTV footage, social media alerts, AI-based sketches etc further guided the probe," he said.

"The probe team came upon a missing person complaint lodged by one Jiya-ul-Haq (34), a sugar factory worker from Udgir, who originally hails from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. On being questioned, he told police he suspected his wife Farida, who stayed in UP, of having an affair with another man," he said.

Farida had come to stay with Jiya-ul-Haq along with their children last month, the official said.

"On August 15, he and one more person smothered Farida with a pillow and killed her. He then put the body in a suitcase, hired an autorickshaw and threw the suitcase into the river from a bridge. Based on our probe, we arrested Jiya-ul-Haq, Sajjad Jarul Ansari (19), Arbaz Jamlu Ansari (19), Sakir Ibrahim Ansari (24) and Azam Ali alias Guddu, all hailing from Kushinagar district," he said.

A court here remanded them in five-day police custody, the official added.

The Nanded Range inspector general of police (IGP) announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for the probe team, which worked under the guidance of SP Amol Tambe, Additional SP Mangesh Chavan as well as sub-divisional officers Arvind Raybole and Gajanan Bhatlavande, the official said. PTI COR BNM