Kottayam/Ayarkunnam: A migrant worker from West Bengal was arrested for allegedly murdering his wife and burying her body near an under-construction house in the Elappani area of Kottayam. The accused, Soni S K (31), was taken into custody by the Ayarkunnam police from Ernakulam South railway station around 2 am on Sunday while attempting to flee. The victim has been identified as Alpana Khatun (28). 

According to the police, suspicion of infidelity led Soni to commit the murder. The couple, natives of Murshidabad in West Bengal, has lived with their two children in a rented house at Amayannur, Ayarkunnam, for the past two years. Police said Soni, a construction worker, suspected that Alpana was in a relationship with another migrant worker from West Bengal named Prakash, a man known to them. She frequently communicated with him over the phone and had, at one point, left Soni and their children to live with Prakash.

Frequent quarrels followed after she returned, and despite Soni’s repeated objections, Alpana continued her relationship. On the morning of October 14, around 6.15 am, Soni took Alpana to the construction site at Elappani, where he and other workers had previously been employed. Around 7.30 am, another argument broke out, during which Soni allegedly assaulted Alpana, banged her head against a stone structure, strangled her, and struck her with a rod, killing her on the spot. He then dug a pit behind the house under construction, buried the body, and covered it with soil to destroy evidence.

Three days later, on October 17, Soni approached the Ayarkunnam police and filed a missing person complaint, claiming that his wife had gone to the market and never returned. However, inconsistencies in his statement and the recovery of CCTV footage showing the couple walking toward the construction site on the day of the incident raised suspicion.

While the police intensified surveillance on him, Soni went missing along with his children on October 18. Tracking his mobile phone location revealed that he was at Ernakulam South railway station, from where a police team led by Sub-Inspector Saju T Lukose arrested him.

Following his confession, the police recovered Alpana’s buried body from the site on Sunday. After the inquest, the body was shifted to Kottayam Medical College Hospital for postmortem. The children were shifted to a government care home. 

Soni has been charged under Sections 103(1) and 101 (murder), and 238(a) (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).