Accused who murdered three of a family in Kokrajhar arrested

Our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR: The accused person who murdered three members of a family, including a minor, with sharp weapons at Mukhigaon village under Fakiragram Police Station in Kokrajhar district on the night of June 27, has been arrested by police on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Shabananda Barman (24) of village Khejurbari, Jogdai under the same police station. The incident has created a sensation in the area. On June 27, three persons of a family - Tripul Ray, his wife Marami Ray and minor daughter Anjumani Ray (3) of Mukhigaon village -were killed by Barman. However, their six-year-old daughter managed to escape.

Sources from the police said the incident was pre-planned and related to love affair. According to the confession of the accused, he and Marami fell in love and used to talk to each other every day. But Marami, the mother of two children, started to stay in touch with another youth and started avoiding him, which made him frustrated. He also said that Marami had started avoiding his phone calls and this made him take the drastic step of eliminating the entire family.

Barman confessed that he bought a second-hand bicycle and on that day he came to Mukhigaon from his village on that bicycle. He said he entered the house and killed Marami’s husband. Marami and her daughters were killed while they ran outside the house. After committing the crime, he escaped on that bicycle. The accused threw the dao and bicycle into River Gongia and decided to commit suicide in the train but the GRPF on duty saw him and flashed a torchlight that diverted his attention.

The police picked him up for questioning but he did not say anything. The police tracked the call records between him and Marami and found that they had talked for over an hour on certain occasions. Finally, he was compelled to confess his crime.

Marami Ray had married the elder brother of her husband Tripul Ray who works in a private company in Kerala. But they got separated and she tied the knot with Tripul with whom she had two children. Meanwhile, the police team is yet to recover bicycle and dao from the river. The magnetic instruments to fish out the bicycle and dao are likely to arrive in Kokrajhar on Monday.

Also read: Three members of a Kokrajhar family murdered