In a tragic incident stemming from a village dispute, the bodies of a man and his wife were exhumed from a forest in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district, eleven days after they were reported missing. The police have arrested three individuals from the same village in connection with the brutal murder.
A Fatal Quarrel Over Rainwater
The victims, identified as Thakur Sardar (46) and his wife Chandmani (41), were residents of Chaitanpur village. According to the police, the root cause of the crime was a conflict over rainwater flow into adjacent agricultural fields. Kharsawan police station in-charge Gaurav Kumar explained that Thakur's field was situated at a higher altitude. The dispute erupted after Thakur constructed a boundary around his field, which prevented rainwater from flowing down to the fields of the accused, located at a lower level.
The Planned Attack and Concealment
The police revealed that the three accused—Lotho Sardar, Gondo Sardar, and Bundia Sardar, all aged between 22 and 40 years—planned to "teach the couple a lesson." They executed their plan on the night of November 3. The assailants ambushed Thakur and Chandmani when the couple were returning home from a religious program. They allegedly attacked the couple with sticks, leading to their deaths. To conceal their crime, the accused then buried the bodies separately in the nearby Pondilava forest.
Police Investigation and Arrests
The case came to light when the couple's son, who lives outside Jharkhand, filed a First Information Report (FIR) on Wednesday. This initiated a police probe. "With the help of local intelligence, police got clues about the killing and then detained the three villagers for questioning," said Kumar. During interrogation, the three men confessed to the murder. Based on their identification, the police were able to locate and retrieve the bodies from the forest on Thursday. The accused were subsequently placed in judicial custody.
