Khanapara sack murder: Basistha police arrest driver, seize machete

Guwahati police on Monday arrested a man they describe as the prime accused in the killing of Jeena Baishya, the woman whose body was found inside a sack near Ganesh Mandir at Khanapara on Saturday.

The accused has been identified as Pradip Taye, a driver originally from Dhemaji district, Pratidin Time and The Sentinel reported. Basistha police took him into custody and seized a machete allegedly used in the killing, along with the commercial passenger minivan in which police say the crime took place.

What police have alleged

According to the police account carried by both outlets:

• Baishya and Taye had been in a relationship for about ten years. He lived as a tenant on the same premises where she rented a home, Pratidin Time reported.
• The relationship had led to repeated quarrels between their families, and Taye allegedly decided to kill her when he could not end it.
• On the day of the killing, he drove her around for hours in his minivan and bought a new machete in the Beltola area, which he kept hidden in the vehicle.
• At around 8 pm, he allegedly took her to an isolated spot near Ganesh Mandir in Khanapara, attacked her inside the vehicle and dumped her body in a ditch nearby.
• Police believe Baishya was not carrying her mobile phone, which meant there was no digital trail linking the two immediately.

The Sentinel's report puts the date of the killing at November 1. These are the police's allegations; Taye has not yet been tried, and his side of the case has not been reported.

How the case came to light

Residents near Ganesh Mandir noticed a sack with a person's legs visible and alerted police on Saturday, November 7. A Dispur police team and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Anurag Sharma visited the spot. The body was badly decomposed and could not be identified at first.

Family members later identified her as Jeena Baishya, a resident of the Koinadhora area who had been missing for days. Her family had lodged a missing person complaint at Basistha police station. Local residents said she was a mother of two and worked collecting tickets in the Khanapara area. The body was sent to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital for a post-mortem.

Police have not said whether anyone else is suspected of involvement. Further investigation is under way.

Spellings of the victim's name vary across reports (Jeena, Jina and Zeena Baishya); NEInsider uses the spelling in the latest police-based reports.