Pulak Bhandari, accused of murdering Papia Sarkar at Usthi on January 20, has been remanded in police custody for seven days by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate in Diamond Harbour. Pulak, boyfriend of Papia’s cousin Minakshi Sarkar, was arrested on Thursday.

This development has smashed the earlier theory that Papia, who has been found with her throat slit, was the victim of a love triangle. Preliminary investigation had suggested that the student of Vivekananda College, Thakurpukur, had been murdered by one of her boyfriends.

“On interrogating Meenakshi after her arrest, we changed the course of investigation and zeroed in on Pulak,” said Mehmood Akhtar, sub-divisional police officer of Diamond Harbour. Police now believe that Pulak had silenced Papia as she had threatened to alert the family about his plans to elope with Meenakshi.

“Pulak slit Papia’s throat with a razor, and Meenakshi helped him carry out the crime,” a sleuth said.