Siliguri, June 26: The body of a 20-year-old woman was found hanging this morning at Ashoknagar with relatives accusing the father-in-law of sexually assaulting her repeatedly.

Although Alpana Ghosh’s husband, Jayanta, and her brother-in-law, Choton Saha, have been arrested, her father-in-law is missing. The accused will be produced in court tomorrow.

Officials from New Jalpaiguri police outpost picked up Jayanta, a grocery shop owner, from his Ashoknagar residence after Alpana’s relatives lodged a complaint against him, his father Jiten, sister Jayanti and Choton.

“Jiten Ghosh often tried to sexually abuse my daughter. She had complained to her husband repeatedly, but Jayanta always ignored her,” said Jayanti Dey of Srabannagar in Siliguri who shares the same name as Alpana’s sister-in-law.

Jayanti Dey learnt about her daughter’s suicide from Jayanta around 7am. She immediately informed her other son-in-law Paritosh Majumder and rushed to Alpana’s house.

“This morning when I saw Alpana’s body hanging, I could not believe myself. My mother-in-law had spoken to her around 11pm yesterday,” said Paritosh who also went to Ashoknagar.

Jayanta had married Alpana last year. Since their marriage, she has been complaining of torture by Jayanti and Choton, who reside at Tin Batti More, about 2km away.

Paritosh also echoed his mother-in-law that Jiten Ghosh tried to sexually assault Alpana several times. “We had told Jayanta to prevent his father from doing this. But all efforts went in vain.”

According to Jayanta’s neighbours, Alpana was always kept confined to her house and seemed to be living under pressure.

“She was never allowed to mix freely with others in the locality,” said Geeta Das, a neighbour.

Officials from the New Jalpaiguri police outpost visited Jayanta’s house and sent the body for post-mortem.

Vijay Singh, the circle inspector of Jalpaiguri sadar, said: “Apparently it seems that the woman has committed suicide. But we can confirm whether she had been sexually assaulted or not only after the post-mortem report.”

Kalpana, Alpana’s elder sister, demanded Jiten Ghosh’s arrest. “All we want now his arrest and a severe punishment.”