Tamulpur woman missing since June found dead near Bengaluru; man held

The skeletal remains of a young woman from Assam's Tamulpur district, missing in Karnataka since June, have been recovered from a hill near Bengaluru, and a man has been arrested on a murder charge, The Assam Tribune reported on Sunday.

The woman, Sumi Das, was from Harinachora village in Tamulpur, near the Indo-Bhutan border. She had moved to Karnataka for work to support her family.

How the case unfolded

According to an India Today NE report from July, Sumi had been working at a private company in Bengaluru for about six months and was sharing rented accommodation with other women. Her co-workers told the family she had gone missing on June 26. Her parents then filed a missing-person complaint at Kumarikata police station in Tamulpur and appealed to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for help in tracing her.

During the investigation, Kumarikata police arrested Bishal Das, a resident of Hailakandi district who was also working in Karnataka, The Assam Tribune reported. Acting on information he gave, police took him to Bannerghatta near Bengaluru, where the remains were found on a hill.

A case has been registered against the accused under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with murder. Police suspect the killing was linked to a relationship dispute. The accused has not been convicted, and police have not released further details of the investigation.

The remains have been brought to Tamulpur, and the process of handing them over to the family was under way, the report said.

Family's account

Members of the family told the newspaper that Sumi was the main earner at home and had left the state because of their financial situation. Her father said the family went to the police when they could no longer reach her and learned of her death only recently.

Her sister said the family had learned that Bishal Das was staying with Sumi and had repeatedly asked him to help them contact her, but he did not cooperate. Her brother alleged that the accused had called him and warned the family against going to the police. These are the family's allegations and have not been confirmed by police.

Residents of Harinachora have demanded strict punishment. Sumi's sister also raised concern about the safety of women from Assam who move to other states for work.

Wider concern

Large numbers of young people from Assam and the rest of the Northeast work in cities such as Bengaluru, and cases like this one have renewed questions about how families back home can get help quickly when a worker goes missing in another state. The investigation is continuing.