Calcutta, July 18: The wife of the prime suspect in the murders of the Paikpara couple today led police to a bamboo grove in Nandigram where cash and jewellery stolen from their flat had been hidden, officers said.

Purnima Sen, who grew up at the home of Pran Gobinda and Renuka Das as a maid, today allegedly confessed that her husband Sanjay alias Bappa had told her he had murdered the elderly couple. The police are yet to ascertain whether Purnima knew beforehand that the Dases would be murdered.

Officers said Purnima and Bappa did not show remorse during interrogation. The Dases had helped Purnima financially during her marriage and had given money to Bappa to buy a rickshaw, sources had said.

The Dases, both of whom were retired college teachers, trusted Bappa enough to give him a duplicate key to their flat, they had added.

Police sources said Purnima had told interrogators that she came to know about the murder when Bappa came to her home in Nandigram on Thursday and gave her a plastic packet containing jewellery and Rs 1.8 lakh in cash.

The police visited Bappa's in-laws' home in Nandigram on Thursday and spoke to Purnima. But she had then not mentioned anything about the packet. Based on information provided by Bappa, the police questioned Purnima again and apparently learnt about the packet.

"She said she had suppressed the information that she knew about the murders for fear that her husband would be arrested," an officer said.

During interrogation, Bappa allegedly said he had murdered Pran Gobinda and Renuka because they had refused to give him money for his daughter's treatment.

"Bappa had demanded Rs 20,000 from Pran Gobinda. We came to know Bappa's daughter was suffering from dysentery. Bappa could not satisfactorily answer why he had demanded such a big sum for a minor illness," the officer said.

Earlier, Bappa had allegedly demanded Rs 1 lakh from the couple but was turned down. The Dases had also refused to accept his demand of letting him stay in one of their flats.

The police said the murders had been planned beforehand. Pran Gobinda was hit on his head several times with a wooden club of the sort washermen use. Renuka's throat was slit.

Bappa was today remanded in police custody till July 28.

The police claim to have seized the club from Bappa's home in Calcutta. Tonight, searching a pond near the Dases' home, the police recovered a two-foot iron pipe that had also been allegedly used in the murders.

From another pond in the neighbourhood, disaster management group personnel recovered the bloodstained clothes that Bappa had allegedly worn during the murders.