A murder has come to the fore in Baruipur, 40 km from Kolkata, where a 50-year-old woman and her 25-year-old son have been arrested for allegedly killing her husband and then chopping his body into six part before dumping them.

Police said 55-year-old Ujjawal Chakraborty, was killed by his wife, Shyamali Chakraborty, and son Raju Chakraborty on November 14 evening after they had a quarrel over paying Rs 3,000 examination fees of the son.

“So far, our investigation has found Ujjawal was an alcoholic and used to assault his son. On November 14 evening, he had a fight with his wife and his son attacked him. Out of rage, Raju strangulated his father,” Superintendent of Police said.

The son was studying polytechnic from ITI and was looking for a job.

Two days later, on November 17, parts of the body started to float in a nearby pond.

According to police, the human head was wrapped in a polythene bag of a famous garment shop in the area. “That helped us to trace the locality of the victim. After we identified the body, the mother and son were questioned. They had come under suspicion when they lodged a missing diary in the wee hours of November 15. The time when they went to Baruipur police station to lodge the missing complaint was what struck us. Even after we established the identity of the dead person, they claimed that Ujjawal must have been killed by some outsider since he was a habitual drinker and would often get involved in fights. But after prolonged interrogation, they confessed to killing him and chopping the body into six parts,” said a police officer.

Till now, police have found four out of the six body parts, including the head, waist, and two legs.

The police have not yet found the two hands of the deceased.

Ujjawal’s son disposed of them in a nearby pond and bushes, said a police officer, adding the body parts were wrapped in plastic bags. The son made at least six trips on his cycle to dump the body parts in a radius of around 500 metres in Khas Mallick and Dehimedan Malla areas.

The next morning after disposing of the body parts by 3 am, the wife and son went to the police to file a missing person’s report, saying Ujjawal, who worked as a security guard in a private agency, didn’t return home.

The woman and her son were produced in a court on Sunday, which sent them to 12-day police custody.