Dinanath Chakraborty at the police station

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawan was arrested, along with his parents, at his residence on the southern fringes of the city on Sunday for allegedly murdering his wife on Saturday night.

Dinanath Chakraborty, 27, who is posted in Assam, came to his house in Shankarpur, under Baruipur police station, on vacation on Friday.

On Sunday morning, he was found crying over the body of his wife Jayasree, 25, in a temple near his house. When neighbours reached the temple, Dinanath told them that his wife had committed suicide at night by hanging herself from the ceiling of their room while he was asleep.

Acting on a complaint lodged by Jayasree’s father Ajay Mandal, the police arrested the jawan and his parents Anil and Tripti.

“We have sent the body for post-mortem. The three have been arrested on the basis of the complaint. We have launched an investigation,” said Praveen Kumar, the superintendent of South 24-Parganas police.

In his complaint, Ajay alleged that ever since Jayasree’s marriage a year and a half back, Dinanath had been torturing her physically and mentally for dowry. “He often used to beat up my daughter, asking her to bring money from home,” said Ajay, a resident of Rainagar, close to Shankarpur.

A senior police officer said the primary investigation suggested that the woman was strangulated and then hanged.

“There were marks on the neck suggesting strangulation by hand. We have found out that the man had drunk heavily last night and picked a quarrel with his wife. He carried the body to the temple early this morning and tried to pass off the death as suicide,” he said.