Aparna Biswas: Strangled, bludgeoned

Swapan Biswas was so possessed with rage, out of suspicion that wife Aparna was having an extramarital affair, that he not only strangled her and smashed her skull with a shovel, but also bludgeoned her with a grinding stone.

On Friday, police took Biswas in their custody for three days to locate the shil-noda (grinding stone) with his help. Officers said the stone and the shovel would be crucial exhibits in the case.

“Swapan suspected his wife was having an affair with a local youth. We have launched a specific probe on this line,” said S.N. Gupta, superintendent of police (South 24-Parganas). The accused, he added, has admitted to the crime and even expressed willingness to make a confessional statement before the magistrate. “But right now, it is important for us to trace the grinding stone.”

On reports that Aparna, 26, was pregnant, superintendent Gupta said: “These are rumours. The FIR doesn’t say so. We are waiting for the post-mortem report to verify the information.”

Swapan, 30, a cashier with the State Bank of India’s Jadavpur branch, killed Aparna at his Dineshnagar home, in Regent Park, on Thursday morning. In a couple of hours, he turned up at Lalbazar and confessed to his crime. Officers at the police headquarters directed Swapan to Hare Street police station, from where the case was referred to Regent Park thana.

Preliminary inquiries have revealed that apart from suspecting his wife of having an affair, Biswas would often beat her up for dowry. Aparna had told her parents about the torture, which her father Phatik Chandra Biswas has mentioned in his police complaint.

“Following Phatik’s complaint, a case of torture for dowry under Section 498A of the IPC has been added with that of murder under Section 302 and common intention under Section 34,” said public prosecutor Swapan Chakrabarty.

On Thursday, police had picked up Swapan, his sister Mongola and their mother Gita. Early on Friday, another sister, Saraswati, was arrested. The Alipore additional chief judicial magistrate’s court has remanded the mother and sisters in judicial custody till August 18.