Woman's Body Found In Bengal With Throat Slit, Face Burnt Off; 1 Arrested

The police have arrested one person in the brutal murder of a woman, whose body was found with her hands and legs tied, throat slit and face burnt off, near the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

The body was found on Tuesday morning in Gunrajpur village near the Swarupnagar border area in North 24 Parganas district, and the arrest was announced on Friday. Police said the victim is a young Bangladeshi woman, who used to work in a beauty parlour in Mumbai. 

The woman was returning home to Bangladesh and she may have been killed for money,  Basirhat Police District Superintendent of Police, Joby Thomas SK, said.

"Such people generally carry a good amount of money and ornaments while returning to Bangladesh. But nothing was found in the victim's bag, which was kept near the body. So, we suspect that those were looted from her before being murdered," Mr Thomas was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

The police found a spectacle case bearing an address of Faridpur in Bangladesh from her bag, which helped them ascertain her identity. "We have already talked to her family members. They will be coming here. Details will emerge after we interrogate the arrested man," the police official said. 

The man was arrested from Bikhari village under Swarupnagar police station on Thursday night, based on "technical intelligence". 

"We are not sure whether the victim entered India legally. We hope to get information on this after her family members reach here from Dhaka," the PTI report quoted Mr Thomas as saying.  

Police have not revealed the cause of death, and said that the postmortem report is awaited. 

BJP Attacks Trinamool

The horrific incident has led the BJP to train its guns on the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, which it has accused of not being able to control - and even encouraging - violence in the past. 

"This is the situation of law and order in West Bengal. Tied-up body of a young woman with her throat slit and face charred beyond recognition, was found in a pool of blood from an orchard close to the India-Bangladesh border in North 24-Parganas. But Mamata Banerjee won't utter a word," BJP's Bengal co-in-charge and IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya posted on X, formerly Twitter. 

Mr Malviya said it won't be a surprise if "criminals patronised by the TMC" are behind the murder. 

He also attacked the Congress, adding, "Will Rahul Gandhi, who is quick to shed crocodile tears when politically expedient, castigate Mamata Banerjee for failing to protect women in West Bengal? Or compulsion of 'I.N.D.I Alliance' will come in the way?"