Mumbai woman killed, cut to to pieces four days after marriage; husband, in-laws arrested

Mumbai: In a bone-chilling incident, a newly-wed lady was murdered by her husband and his parents and friend, four days after her marriage on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Different parts of Priyanka Sidhesh Gurav's dead body were found scattered across Mumbai last week.

Wrapped in a plastic bag and a bed sheet, Priyanka's head was found on Sunday in a forest on the Shahapur-Nashik Road in Thane.

Police have arrested five people in this regard - Priyanka’s husband, Siddhesh (25), his parents – Manohar Sitaram Gurav (50) and Madhuri (48); friends Durgesh Patwa (31) and Pradeep Jain (34).

The police had on Saturday revealed that the conspiracy to murder Priyanka was hatched before her marriage.

The Hindu quoted a police source as saying that Siddhesh's family wanted to get rid of the 23-year-old victim as she was pressurising their son to marry her.

The marriage on April 30 was fixed once the murder plan was hatched.

“Priyanka had complained to the police about Sidhesh’s reluctance to marry her despite having a physical relationship with her. Madhuri often met Durgesh, an imitation jewellery maker, and complained about Priyanka mounting pressure on Sidhesh to marry her. Durgesh then planted the idea of eliminating Priyanka in their minds. They family agreed to pay Durgesh Rs 40,000 as advance and a total of Rs 1 lakh for severing and dumping Priyanka’s body,” the daily quoted the source as saying.

Sidhesh and his parents choked Priyanka to death using a pillow when she was asleep on May 04. Durgesh then severed the victim's body into three parts and packed them in separate plastic bags. He then used a borrowed black Santro car to dump the torso in Mahape nullah, limbs on Shilphata Road and the head on Kalyan Road.

"We summoned her husband and parents-in-law. They claimed a missing person's complaint was lodged at Worli police station on May 6 as she did not return home after going for an interview on May 5.However, when they were grilled individually, their lies were nailed. Her mobile tower location showed it to be at their home on May 5 but the body was decomposed, indicating the murder happened earlier," The Times of India quoted senior inspector Jagdish Kulkarni of Navi Mumbai crime branch as saying.