Somnath Maity

A homemaker estranged from her husband allegedly hacked their 14-year-old son to death with a bonti in the family’s Paschim Putiari home early on Tuesday.

The landlady found 36-year-old Anjana Maity sitting in a nightgown with blood on her face and hands outside the couple’s two-room flat around 6am.

Sova Majumder, who had come down to the ground floor to unlock the main door, immediately raised an alarm. According to the 71-year-old, Anjana “calmly” told her that she had killed her son and the blood was his.

Sova’s son Bapi, who had rushed down to the ground floor, barged into the flat and found Somnath — a topper in Swami Pranabananda Vidyapith — lying on the floor covered with a blanket.

The cops later removed the blanket to find that Somnath had been beheaded. His fingers had been smashed and his genitals chopped off.

“There were blood stains on the bed, the walls and even on the almirah. When I asked her why she had murdered her son, she only told me that her husband Ranjit had been threatening to set her and her son on fire if she didn’t vacate the house,” Bapi told Metro.

The bonti that was used to kill the boy was in one of the bags that Anjana was carrying when Sova saw her. The other bag contained her jewellery.

The police claimed that Anjana had confessed to the murder during interrogation.

The Maitys, married for over a decade, moved into the flat 22 months ago after Ranjit, 45, was transferred to the city from the New Delhi office of the courier company he worked for.

Neighbours said Ranjit never spent more than two days a week in the flat and Anjana was often at her parents’ in Chandipur in East Midnapore. The couple, however, were rarely heard fighting.

Somnath, too, was quiet and preferred books to sports. He was very good in studies, said his teacher Debasish Adhikari.

Ranjit was not home at the time of the murder. He went to Thakurpukur police station on being summoned by cops.

“We have learnt that he had been having an extra-marital affair,” added Bapi.“We are interrogating the woman to know the motive of the murder,” said L.N. Meena, the superintendent of South 24-Parganas police.

Anjana was produced in the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Alipore and remanded in judicial custody for two weeks.