The young woman who was stabbed in front of hundreds of onlookers at a busy food hub along EM Bypass on Thursday night died early on Friday.

The murder charge has been pressed against three persons, including a 16-year-old boy identified by some as the main assailant.

The 24-year-old woman was married and a resident of Narkeldanga. Sources said she was originally from Baruipur, on the southern fringes of Calcutta.

Her family members told the police they were clueless about what she was doing at Metropolitan on the Bypass, where she was stabbed several times.

Her husband, the police said, went to the spot after being informed about the attack on Thursday night.

The police said that on Thursday evening, the woman and her male friend, Mohammad Faruque Ansari, had reached an eatery in a Mahindra Thar. Ansari’s wife Shahzadi, nephew Wasim Akram and 16-year-old son trailed them in a Toyota Fortuner.

The police said Ansari and the victim were having tea at a roadside stall when his family reached there.

Several bystanders, however, said they saw the young woman and her attackers emerge from the Thar. It is not clear how and when Ansari’s family members and the victim boarded the vehicle.

“It seems the man’s family was tracking his location as they suspected he was having an affair with a woman. They located his car through a GPS-based tracking device fitted to his vehicle. The man and the young woman were on their way to an eatery around 8.50pm on Thursday when suddenly his family members launched an attack on her,” said an officer at Pragati Maidan police station.

The police said that seeing his family, Ansari fled the spot leaving the young woman behind.

Those who witnessed the attack in the middle of the road told the police that the young boy (Ansari’s 16-year-old son) stabbed the woman multiple times.

“The woman was trying to run away when the young boy’s cousin, Wasim Akram, 22, held her tight so the boy could continue with the assault. His mother, Shahzadi Faroque, 34, joined in the attack,” a police officer said.

The driver of the Toyota Fortuner fled the spot.

Ansari runs a car rental business and cops suspect that all his cars have GPS devices fitted to them. The police said Ansari could not be located till Friday evening.

Akram and Shahzadi were produced before the Alipore court on Friday and remanded in police custody.

The teenager was presented before the juvenile justice board and sent to a home.

The chief public prosecutor at the Alipore court, Sourin Ghosal, said the prosecution sought police remand for the accused to “unearth the greater motive, if any, and for the reconstruction of the crime”.

The lawyer also said that if granted bail, the accused may team up again and cause harm to the family of the deceased.

The prayer for police remand was allowed. The two have been sent to police custody till February 11.

“After the three were detained, a thorough search was conducted. Based on the statement of the accused, the knife which was used to attack the woman was seized. Blood samples were collected from the spot,” an officer in the detective department said.

The woman’s body would undergo a post-mortem on Saturday. Sources said there were three external injuries. “There were two injuries on her arms and one deep cut on her throat, which is suspected to have caused the death,” said an officer.