Maharashtra Police arrested a 49-year-old man from the Palghar district for killing his wife and then beheading her and disposing of her body and head in different locations. This incident came to the limelight when a skull was found in a suitcase in a jungle in Virar.
After investigating the crime, police found out that Harish Hippargi murdered his wife Utpala, alias Soma Das, in January. Cops arrested Harish from Nalasopara after the cops got crucial evidence.
Hippargi lived with his wife, Utpala, and their 22-year-old son. He worked in the imitation jewellery industry. The couple had frequent arguments about Utpala's son from a previous marriage, police said.
Hippargi is accused of strangling Utpala to death on January 8 during one of these altercations. He took her body to Virar East and used a knife to cut off her head in an attempt to cover up the murder, police said.
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The severed head was placed in a travel bag and left outside Pirkunda Dargah, while the body was disposed of in a sewer.
When the son asked about the whereabouts of his mother, the accused said Utpala had gone to her hometown in West Bengal. But when police in Virar found the skull inside a travel bag on March 14.
Investigators discovered Utpala's identity in the customer records after discovering a pouch from a jewelry store in the 24 Parganas district of Bengal.
The police investigated further and discovered that Utpala's phone had been switched off for two months. Hippargi was also hiding from cops. He changed residence and switched off his cell phone. On March 14, late at night, police nabbed him after pursuing many leads and locating him at Rahmat Nagar, Nalasopara.
As the murder investigation continues, authorities are still looking for Utpala's corpse.