Jamshedpur, Nov. 19: The partially charred body of a 40-year-old woman was taken into police custody from a crematorium and rushed for post-mortem in the wee hours of Thursday after her family members claimed murder.

The bizarre incident took place at Mouda village in Bahragora police station area of Ghatshila subdivision, some 90km from the steel city. The woman's husband is being detained and may be arrested if autopsy confirms death by strangulation.

According to victim Manju Jana's brother Harishankar Bhuiyan, she had a quarrel with her husband Uttam Jana (48) over a missing cow last night. The bickering took an ugly turn and Uttam strangled Manju after which he tried to pass it on as suicide.

However, around 10.30pm, Manju's maternal uncle who also lives in Mouda came to know that the mother of three sons had died under mysterious circumstances. He informed Harishankar in Bagrachura village, 15km from Mouda.

Krishna Bhuiyan, a cousin of the deceased, said the uncle visited Uttam and warned him not to cremate Manju until her family members came. "But, my brother-in-law made a stealthy attempt to perform my cousin's last rites around 1.30am with the help of another villager," Krishna said, adding that someone tipped them off about Uttam's plans and they in turn informed police.

Baharagora OC Chittaranjan Mishra said they seized the body from the pyre after receiving the murder complaint. "It was more than 50 per cent charred and hence, we could not ascertain strangulation marks. The body has been sent to MGM Medical College in Dimna, Jamshedpur, for post-mortem. The accused husband will be under detention till the report comes," he added.

Uttam, who earns a living as a carpenter, pleaded innocence. "We did have a quarrel over a missing cow, but Manju hanged herself," he said.

It is not known if the police would take statements of the couple's sons - Gopal (18), Govinda (16) and Nityanand (14) - who were at home at the time of the alleged murder.